


Just Pretending

by Girlfriend_ScD



Category: One Direction (Band), True Blood
Genre: Anyone can get hurt, F/M, M/M, True Blood crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-02
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-04 02:09:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 57,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/705296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girlfriend_ScD/pseuds/Girlfriend_ScD
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where vampires have “come out of the coffin” and try to co-exist with humanity, One Direction is on their American leg of their world tour. How do they live with vampires when one member’s blood proves irresistible?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik are property of Syco…just kidding! I have no idea who has legal proprietary rights over the boys' image/likeness/etc...but I do know that it is not me. So any recognizable person(s) - including but not limited to: family members, staff, romantic partners, etc...- and their likenesses is used in a purely fictitious manner and I am not earning or collecting anything of value, monetary or otherwise. 
> 
> Trueblood, The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries, and anything there within belong to Charlene Harris. 
> 
> As for any original content: any likeness, similarities, or resemblance to actual persons (living dead or undead) places, and events are unintentional and purely coincidental. 
> 
> Also, first time on AO3 so I'm on a bit of a learning curve. Please forgive any formatting or general n00b mistakes.

A girl who looked no more than eighteen lounged on the side and in the shadows of the concrete column to the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. She took in the sights of Chinatown and the plethora of females that milled about ranging from eight to twenty-two, most of them accompanied by their mothers; All wearing homemade or store bought shirts stating their love of the pop group that was scheduled to play that night.

Yara felt a bit out of place in her simple white halter tank top and jeans. Her black curly hair was done up in a messy bun with a sunflower hair pin keeping it all in place. A gaggle of tween girls looked her up and down, sensing she did not have “One Direction Infection.” Not with her casual attire and deep red Aztec sunburst tattoo on her right shoulder. Unafraid, the older girl held their gaze and they instinctively turned away, a ripple of apprehension shot through them. They did not want to mess with the dark haired teen and decided to refocus on the five heartthrobs they were there to see.

The last of the sun’s rays set below the horizon and Yara checked her watch.

“Right on time,” she murmured to herself as a black stretch limousine pulled up in front of her. Despite D.C. traffic, Rooney the chauffer always managed to get where he was going with impeccable punctuality. He nodded respectfully to the waiting girl and a crowd started to gather at the luxury vehicle. Given the frenzy surrounding the arena, they were hoping that they would see a glimpse of their favorite British, plus one Irish, crooners.

Much to their disappointment, they saw neither perfectly coiffed hair nor a spattering of tattoos but a tiny eleven year old girl wearing the uniform of the day: a white t-shirt with an iron on decal of “1D” and the face of the blond one smiling as if it were his favorite thing to do.

“Yara!” the little ball of energy shouted with glee as she launched herself at the older girl and enveloped her in a tight hug. The crowd had dissipated as they figured out their idols would not be manifesting themselves and went back to eat before the concert.

“Hey, little one,” Yara replied fondly and rustled the child’s hair.

“Where’re the passes?! Where’re the passes?!”

The raven haired teen laughed at how much vigor could be contained in such a small body as the young girl literally bounced up and down, excited about seeing her favorite band.

“Passes? Was I supposed to get some kind of pass?” she teased, smiling at the dramatic fall of the younger girl’s face. It seemed as if Yara had crushed every hope and dream the girl had.

“I’m just kidding, here they are.”

Yara brandished the shiny laminated badges with five handsome lads smiling and large red letters that spelled out “V.I.P.” The girl squealed with unabashed happiness and hugged her again.

“Alright Porsia, what did your grandmother tell you?”

“That you are to cater to my every whim and buy me whatever I want,” her charge said haughtily as only an eleven year old could.

“She would say that,” Yara muttered to herself. “But what else?”

“That in public I’m to say you’re my older sister and not my bodyguard. What if they ask why we don’t look alike?”

“It’d be rude for someone to ask that but if they do, just tell them I’m adopted.”

“OK, enough talking. I want to get stuff from the vendors, I definitely want a foam hand and…”  
Porsia rattled off the things she wanted as they made their way into the arena.

Yara did as her employer wanted, she bought anything the favored granddaughter wanted but the child was raised to be gracious and thanked her at every turn. Porsia was decked head to toe with everything One Direction.

* * *

 

While the two females waited in line to get another souvenir with the face of Niall Horan, the boys were milling about in the green room before their concert.

“Who’re we greeting again?” Harry Stiles asked lazily as he bounced a foam basketball against the wall and lounged on an ugly green couch.

“A couple of XM radio winners from KIIS and The Morning Mash-Up as well as the granddaughter of…hmmm that’s odd,” Paul, their manager, said as he rifled through some paperwork.

“What?” Zayn Malik asked as he expertly gelled his hair to the perfect point. He did not trust anyone with his hair, no matter what hair dressing school they went to.

“It doesn’t say who the grandmother is…but she must be someone important because she bought the VIP passes that were supposed to only go for radio winners. My notes say ‘pay special attention’.”

“She wouldn’t be the first rich bird to have bought her way in. Remember that chit in New York that offered to pay us $1,000,000 to sing at her daughter’s birthday?” Louis Tomlinson said.

“As if we had time with our schedule to drop in and sing Happy Birthday and for what? How much is one mil in pounds?” Zayn asked their resident and secret brilliant mathematician, Niall.

Without missing a beat, the sole blond member of the group responded quickly “Approximately a little over 6.2 thousand pounds, give or take a few depending on the current international market.”

“Well you’re in luck, the girl is only eleven so I won’t suggest you sleep with her like I did with the last batch,” Paul joked.

“The things you’ll pimp us out for Paul. I think we’re going to have to complain to Uncle Simon about this.”

“Hey, the girls were willing to pay for total upgrades to every tour-bus with anti-vampire security. I think that was a deal just for five minutes with one of you guys.”

“Oi! I take personal offense to that…I’d last at least ten minutes,” Harry joked and when one of his bandmates scoffed at the time he gave, he threw the soft orange ball at him.

Liam Payne, the perpetually quiet one of the group sat in a corner looking melancholy. He had been out of sorts ever since his girlfriend of two years had broken things off. It was especially hard on press tours when all interviewers asked the same questions over and over again; all wondering what their relationship status was and for the first time since they become famous, he had to say he was single. He wasn’t happy about it and he especially hated that he didn’t have time to grieve the end of his two year relationship. Still, he was in a band and he needed to put on a front. So he smiled to the crowd of girls and sang his love songs.

The others noticed Liam’s mood and wondered what they could do for their mate.

“He’s not still gutted about Dani, is he?” Harry asked the other lads quietly as Paul personally talked to Liam about putting on a happy face for their fans.

“Seems like it. I think the freedom of being newly single and all the attention is wearing off and he misses her,” Louis stated.

“That daft cow ripped out his heart and stomped on it, why is he still all knackered over it?”

“They were together for two bloody years, if you were with someone for more than a week you might know how awful it is to break up with someone.”

“Piss off, we’re in America and there are so many good looking birds just waiting to be shagged. Tonight we are going to go on a bender and maybe even go to a sang bar.”

“Brilliant, let’s get totally plastered at the local pub - which we can’t by the way since the drinking age here is twenty-one –then go to a bar full of vampires that would probably drain us dry in under a minute. Wicked idea,” Louis said with every ounce of sarcasm contained in his body.

“Don’t be such a Nancy boy Louis, he needs a couple of good shags and it’ll get him out of his strop.”

“Hare, if those two blondes he was with a couple weeks back didn’t work I highly doubt a roll with a vampire will.”

“Think about it. Some of them are hundreds and I’ve heard even thousands of years old, do you know what that means?”

“Your cougar fetish has gotten completely out of control?”

“No you gumby, it means they have so much more sexual wisdom than anyone alive. Think of all the crazy deviant things they like to do.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Zayn asked when he walked into the wrong part of the conversation.

“Harry fancies a trip to a sang bar after the concert. After that maybe we can all snort lines of coke and run with knives,” Louis exaggerated.

“Are you guys taking the piss or are you serious?”

“Zayn, not you too.”

“What? I’ve heard ace things about vampire bars…you can’t tell me you aren’t the at least a bit curious.”

“Curious about having my throat ripped out and sucked dry? Are you completely mental?”

“That’s just a stereotype and we all know that stereotyping is wrong, ain’t that right Zayn?”

“Aye Harry, it is wrong indeed,” Zayn conspiratorially nodded his head in agreement.

Louis threw up his hands in defeat and knew that his brother-like band mates were not going to listen to reason. He chose to go sulk with Liam in the corner until they had to do the meet and greet.

“How serious were you about going to a vamp pub?” Zayn asked when his friend was out of ear shot; he was always up for a new adventure, particularly if it involved vampires. He had too many friends tell him how amazing it was to be bitten while shagged.

“How does Perrie feel about you going to sang bars?” Harry inquired.

“About the same as me shagging other girls; as long as she doesn’t see it she doesn’t care.”

“She is a good girlfriend.”

“The best, now are we going to a vamp bar or not?”

“If we can get past Paul and I think it’d only be you and me but I’m trying to get Liam out of his strop. Louis’s too squeamish about vampires and I don’t want Niall to be around them.”

“Aye, I think Niall is a little too innocent for our kind of fun…think you could get some V?  
If anything could get Liam out of his bad mood I think it’d be a good romp while on V.” Zayn lowered his voice significantly for the last part.

While they were not opposed to trying new things, they were certainly offered plenty of illicit substances since their rise to fame; they hadn’t even tried anything beyond grass and a few uppers. They adamantly stayed away from anything harder such as coke or heroin. But V was always a fascinating temptation, the distribution highly illegal (even more so than smack or oxies) and rumors of vampires killing humans found with vials of their blood on the spot made them hesitant to purchase.

Still, the prospect of “the greatest” high they’d ever experience was all too enticing. Not to mention the rave reviews of what it did to their sex drive.

“Nah, at least not here. Maybe if we were in New York or L.A. but in Washington I have no hook-up.”

“Well Liam’ll be up for getting sloshed.”

“You two can stop talking about me, I can hear you perfectly,” Liam interrupted them with a dour tone.

“Oh come on mate, you know we’re only looking out for ya,” Harry said.

“I’m not going to a vampire pub.”

“Don’t be that way, it’ll be fun.”

“First off, have you seen vampire bars on the telly? They’re full of weird Goth types. We’d stick out like a bunch of tossers and I’m certainly not going to wear tight leather pants to fit in. Secondly, there’s no way we’d get pass Paul and even if we did Simon would kill us when he finds out. Literally kill us and we wouldn’t rise back up. He’d kill us dead and we’d stay that way. You know there’s going to be some bint with an iPhone that will sell it to the paps or post it on tumblr. Plus, what would the fans think?”

They started to back off when it was apparent their plans for the night were upsetting their friend.

“Alright, alright…we won’t go. We weren’t that serious anyway…we just wanted to cheer you up. You’ve been out of sorts lately.”

“I know…I don’t know what’s wrong. It’s been months since me and Dani broke up…it’s completely mental.”

“No…you two were together for years…it must be really hard to break up with someone you’ve been with so long,” Harry unabashedly stole the words Louis said earlier.

“Come on, maybe one of the meet and greet birds will be fit,” Zayn suggested optimistically.

“Isn’t one eleven?”

“There are at least two others from the radio contest, one of them has to be attractive.”

“And if they’re all jailbait?”

“Liam, there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of screaming girls waiting to see us. At least a fifth of them are here for you specifically. Out of those, dozens of them have to be old enough to take back to the hotel…if we can get them past security…and Paul…and hope they don’t have their camera phone and sell whatever we do and say to the paps.”

The newly head shaven member of One Direction raised his eyebrow at Zayn in skepticism, silently asking if the Muslim was serious.

“Or maybe we’ll nick a pack of larger and we’ll have a stag night in the hotel room.”

For the first time that day, Liam smiled a genuine grin.

“Sounds good, sounds really good.”

“Atta boy,” Harry said jovially, glad his mate was emerging from his depression.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik are property of Syco…just kidding! I have no idea who has legal proprietary rights over the boys' image/likeness/etc...but I do know that it is not me. So any recognizable person(s) - including but not limited to: family members, staff, romantic partners, etc...- and their likenesses is used in a purely fictitious manner and I am not earning or collecting anything of value, monetary or otherwise. 
> 
> Trueblood, The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries, and anything there within belong to Charlene Harris. 
> 
> As for any original content: any likeness, similarities, or resemblance to actual persons (living dead or undead) places, and events are unintentional and purely coincidental.

Paul told them to finish getting ready and to meet the lucky fans before they went on stage.

“Shite,” Niall said at the snack table, having spilled a can of orange soda on his white polo. “You lads go, I’ll go change me shirt.”

The band, minus Niall, was ushered to another room in the labyrinth of the arena. The door was slightly ajar and they wondered if they should wait for Niall. After all, what was One Direction without their cute innocent blond member? Besides, from what Liam could see through the small door opening, the small girl he assumed they had to pay special attention to wore a homemade shirt with the Irishman’s smiling face on it.

 Liam was a bit of a voyeur and listened in on the conversations the occupants in the room were having. It was the typical chatter about how excited the fans were to see the band and who they thought was hottest. He bit down the urge to roll his eyes and knew he had to get it to together for their admirers. A single conversation did catch his attention though.

 “So ‘Zain’s’ nickname is ‘Zayn’?” an older girl who looked to be in her late teens asked the eleven year old.

 The little girl nodded and looked a little exasperated because her older companion obviously didn’t understand anything important.

 “Yes.”

 “I don’t get it.”

 “His real name is spelled with an ‘i’ and his nickname is spelled with a ‘y’.”

 “How is that a nickname? It’s the same name but with the slightest bit of variation. If anything it’s really just misspelled.”

 “It just is. They’re British; they do things differently over there.”

 “Oh I see…why are we going over trivia?”

 “Because I don’t want you to embarrass me in front of my future husband.”

 “Is that right? Little young to be marrying, don’t you think?”

 “Silly, I’m not going to marry him now…we’ll get married after I get my Doctorate in Business

Administration, take over the family empire, he’ll be done with singing and become my house husband.”

“I guess I should be glad you’re aiming high. What if he gets married before you complete your education?”

“Well he’s going to meet me today and see that I’m worth waiting for…and if not then I’ll marry Zayn. Statistically speaking, he’ll have broken up with his current girlfriend, Perrie, in maybe a couple of months. He’ll then go through a couple more paramours before realizing his lothario ways are empty, remember the smart eleven year old he met in D.C., and come for my hand in marriage.”

“I’m slightly worried you know the word ‘lothario’ but it’s good to see that true love has a backup plan.”

Liam snickered at the dark hair girl’s dry wit and the little girl’s high handed plans for two of his mates.

“Now stop stalling and tell me all five members of the group,” the small girl demanded intent on teaching her friend all about One Direction.

“Ummm…there’s Niall, Zayn, Louis…Harry…and Justin?”

“No!”

“You sure? There’s no Justin Timberlake in the band?” the older girl teased the younger one.

“Yes I’m sure! You’re thinking Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake is an actor not a singer,” Porsia stated with the utmost authority.

Liam had to bite his hand from laughing out loud; obviously the girl was too young to know about N Sync and his idol’s boy band days or even Justin’s subsequent solo career. For all she knew, Justin Timberlake has only ever been an actor and never performed on stage for millions of girls just as he was doing.

Obviously he was not the girl’s favorite because he was certain he had listed the ‘90’s crooner as one of his musical influences.

Zayn had been at Liam’s back, listening as well. He wasn’t so much concerned about the conversation but the pretty girl who had to be of legal age.

“She’s cute,” Zayn said of the older girl. He liked that she had high cheek bones and an olive tan complexion; he wondered what ethnicity she could be. Perhaps some sort of Spanish, maybe even some kind of middle eastern. It was hard to tell in America, especially densely populated cities like their Nation’s Capital where diversity was at its peak.

“Let’s go in,” he urged Liam, not sure why they were waiting outside the room.

“What about Niall?”

“He’s on his way, no use in waiting when there are pretty birds to be seen.”

Liam was then unceremoniously pushed past he door and into the guest room. It was like the room they were lounging in before but without any food and an uglier brown couch. He stumbled in and blushed very slightly as he made an awkward entrance. He blushed even deeper when he saw that the entire room was focused on him. The dark haired girl was amused and he smiled, trying to play the entire thing off.

“Hi…I’m Liam,” he said to try to break the silence.

It worked like magic when they all stopped staring as they rushed to meet him and the others.

The little girl was straining to look above the crowd, trying to find the one she had done so much to see and was disappointed when he wasn’t to be found.

Zayn, hearing that he was the second favorite from the conversation before, kneeled down to her level and tried to console her.

“Niall had a bit of a mishap involving orange Fanta and a white polo. He’s just getting changed.

What’s your name?”

With as much excitement as Porsia showed mere seconds ago, being in the actual presence of her idols made the normally outgoing girl shy.

“So this is the trick to get you to be quiet. Well Zayn, Louis, Niall, Harry, or Liam,” Yara joked to the singer. “I think I just might have to employ your services long term.”

The two boys laughed and Porsia found her voice, unwilling to let Yara get the upper hand.

“I am Porsia DeLuna and it is a pleasure to meet you,” Porsia introduced herself with perfect grace and even added a little curtsy as flair. “This is my servant, Yara.”

The aforementioned “servant” raised an eyebrow in question and Porsia for her part only held her head higher as if to say “Technically I’m only supposed to keep your profession a secret, not specify that you are my sister.”

The older girl rolled her eyes and couldn’t argue. She was under the employ of the DeLuna family and by extension in servitude to the too smart for her own good scion.

“I made a lot of bad choices in my life…stay in college,” she joked to the crowd that awaited an answer from her.

They all got a small chuckle, Liam charmed by her easy going demeanor. Most fans, even though he loved them to death, were very intense, brazen, and intrusive; especially the American ones who didn’t seem to have any qualms about speaking their mind. He had several questions about his personal life that he wanted to shoot down on the spot but being the English gentleman he was raised to be, answered cordially if not vaguely.

As if the fans sensed he was in less than sharing mood, they made their way to the other lads who were all too happy to take up the slack. They knew their friend was having a hard time and as family and brothers did, they had his back.

He was curious about the supposed servant girl that sat idly by and from her dress, wasn’t there for them but for the little girl who enchanted the rest of the boys as she eagerly awaited her favorite member.

“I’m Liam,” he introduced himself to her, noticing that she didn’t seem to know which member was which.

“I know,” she replied with a grin. “I only pretend not to know to bug her,” she motioned to the girl who was entertaining the other members of the band.

“Despite being ‘totally uncool and old’ in Porsia words, I do not in fact live under a rock. I totally love Chasing the Sun and that other song...Love You Like a Love Song. Super catchy”

Liam blinked for a few seconds, unsure if he should correct her and say the songs were from a rival UK band and a female singer when she seemed so confident that she was right.

“I’m just kidding. That’s my lame attempt at not seeming as awkward by being more awkward…it usually works. Great at parties. Feel free to ignore me so I can stop talking.”

The pensive one of the group truly was having a good time for the first time in months. It was refreshing to meet someone who didn’t seem to have any interest to invade his personal life. She treated him like he was just a stranger at a party where she wasn’t sure how to act. It felt good to be treated as “new person Liam” instead of the star-struck fan who put him on a pedestal.

For the first time in over two years, he had to be the one to come up with the questions to keep the conversation going. The lovely girl was not bombarding him with questions in rapid fire and having an actual conversation that didn’t’ revolve around his personal life was a bit novel.

“So are you actually little Miss DeLuna’s servant or is she just being cheeky?”

“Servant is such a strong and probably most appropriate title…ummm I like to think of myself as an au pair; except I’m not a foreign domestic helper…so not really an au pair at all. I think it just sounds better than ‘duped nanny for the evening’.”

“But you work for her grandmother.”

“Yes but her grandmother is kind of a big deal in these parts so I can’t really say what I do for her. But in general I’m kind of like a personal assistant. And when everyone backs out of taking the favorite granddaughter to a pop concert, the responsibility generally falls to the lowest on the totem pole. I don’t mind though. I get to stuff her full of sugary venue food then drop her off home.”

“You look a bit young to be the hand of someone who can’t even be named. Pretty impressive.”

“Well I just kind of fell into the position and I’m older than I look. I didn’t exactly go the college route so I was open to pretty much anything.”

“I didn’t go with Uni either…I started but I felt it wasn’t where I was supposed to be. So instead of doing another year at Wolverhampton College studying music, I decided to try out for X Factor again and pursue the music dream.”

“Wow, you dropping out of college worked out way better than me dropping out of college. I guess I should have gone on X Factor, gotten a record deal, and made millions. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. It’s genius really.”

“I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do it. It’s so obvious it’s the best plan.”

Liam took pleasure with getting to know the easygoing pretty girl who had a subtle and sarcastic sense of humor that appealed to his British upbringing.

“I think that’s really cool.”

“Getting a record contract and making millions?”

“Well yeah…but the whole you trying again, especially at such a young age. I think most would have given up but you chased the same dream twice. I think it takes a lot of courage to go after a dream, even more so when told ‘you aren’t ready’.”

“So you do know about One Direction and specifically my X Factor attempts. Are you one of those secret fans that think they’re too posh to admit they like us?”

“What? No,” she giggled at his theory. “Don’t tell Porsia but I wiki’d you guys before the concert. I know it’s cheating but she gave me like a stack of books and several hours of Youtube and other videos to watch.”

“She didn’t.”

“She did! I’m sorry, I’m sure you guys are spectacular to see in action but I couldn’t study for classes I was paying for so I really wasn’t about to major in British Pop Hotties 101 no matter how glossy and numerous the pictures are.”

“Pop Hotties, huh?” Liam surprised himself with the flirty question.

“Whatever,” she said with a playful eye roll. “Like you and the others don’t know you’re unfairly good looking.”

“Unfairly good looking? That’s a new one. Totally gorgeous, oh em gee I want to have your babies, for the love of god please follow me on Twitter…those I’ve heard in spades.”

“I bet you have.”

“And just what are we betting on?” The raven haired member of the band asked as he joined the conversation.

“How often Liam has heard accolades of his ridiculously good looks and petitions for his seed,” Yara said without missing a beat and with no shame.

Zayn was taken back at how bold she was but he expected it from an American and she seemed to have a good humor about her.

“Sorry, I must seem terribly American right now. I’m Yara,” she facetiously apologized as if she read his mind and introduced herself.

“Not terribly, just the right amount,” the notorious flirt said back, not backing down from the conversation. “So, ‘Yara’, that’s a beautiful name. In Arabic it means small butterfly.”

“Interesting. It’s actually short for ‘Yaretzi.’ It means ‘you will always be loved’ in Nahuatl.”

“Nahuatl?” Liam asked, curious to know where the girl came from and wasn’t sure if he liked the presence of his dark haired band mate who was laying his infamous charm on thick. While Zayn was technically in a relationship, it didn’t stop him or Perrie from infidelity when it suited them.  He didn’t understand why they were in a relationship if all they were going to do was have sex with other people when the whim struck them.

“Aztec. I’m from a direct line of…” she never finished her sentence as she was suddenly distracted by an enticing aroma.

Both boys were a little confused when she abruptly stopped talking and took a deep breath, scenting the air like a cat that caught the scent of prey. The next thing they knew, she was in front of Niall who had finally joined them.

The normally jovial blond was taken aback by how close the stranger got to him but he wasn’t all that phased as fans tended to get really up close and personal.

“What are you?” Yara asked quietly with wide eyes that looked him up and down, unsure of what she was seeing.

“Ummm…I’m Niall?” he answered, confused as to what she could possibly be asking.

“Yara? What are you doing?” Porsia asked with a touch of panic. Her guard was embarrassing her in front her of favorite singer of all time and the love of her short life.

Yara blinked a few times, finally breaking out of the daze that the blond singer put her in. She shook her head and realized that she was the center of attention as everyone looked at her as if she lost her mind, which wasn’t surprising as she had.

“Sorry, I’m a sucker for men’s cologne…Armani?”

“Yes, Mania,” Niall replied, being the nice guy he was he didn’t make a big spectacle of her odd behavior.

“It’s really nice…hello little girl I don’t know. I’m just going to go to that corner and be weird by myself. Pleasure to meet you guys,” she said to Porsia and the rest of the crowd respectively then skulked off to hope that Death would come and take her away.

Porsia took no time in not only pretending she didn’t know who Yara was but regaling Niall of what a huge fan she was. The guardian entertained herself by playing a couple of levels of Angry Birds, all the while keeping one eye on her ward. She doubted anything or anyone actually wanted to hurt the young girl, but Porsia’s grandmother spared no expense and took no chances when it came to her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read, Enjoy, and Review! Thanx!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik are property of Syco…just kidding! I have no idea who has legal proprietary rights over the boys' image/likeness/etc...but I do know that it is not me. So any recognizable person(s) - including but not limited to: family members, staff, romantic partners, etc...- and their likenesses is used in a purely fictitious manner and I am not earning or collecting anything of value, monetary or otherwise. 
> 
> Trueblood, The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries, and anything there within belong to Charlene Harris. 
> 
> As for any original content: any likeness, similarities, or resemblance to actual persons (living dead or undead) places, and events are unintentional and purely coincidental.

 

Yara was perfectly happy to be ignored and entertain herself until she heard one of the other contestant winners, a girl with platinum blonde hair and a tight shirt that showed off her very gifted endowments, started to make comments that made her blood boil.

 

“Oh there’s a great vampire bar in DuPont. It’s called Fangtasy and it’s not as dark and Goth as most of them are. We should all go after the concert,” she coyly said, hoping to the gods that her favorite idols would think she was cool and brave for going to a sang tavern. 

 

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” the previously quiet Yara asked in a low fury. She got up and took a protective stance in front of Porsia who was only a few inches away from the bleach blonde girl who had suggested the high end vampire club. 

 

The girl, Kimmy, visibly blanched at the chide and pulled her shoulders back. She wasn’t about to be embarrassed in front of the boys she desperately wanted to sleep with. 

 

“What’s your problem, psycho?”

 

“My problem, you empty minded bimbo, is that a) you’re talking about a sleazy vampire bar in front of an eleven year old while whore-ishly throwing yourself at all five guys apparently not caring which one you end up with. It’s called class, you might want to look it up. And b) how stupid can you be to want to go to a vampire bar? Hello? Vampires…you know the monsters with fangs? They aren’t there for decoration. Any moron can tell you that those clubs are mere fronts for luring in and snacking on humans with an apparent death wish. Vampires are soulless creatures that don’t want to ‘party’ or ‘hang’ with you. You are nothing more than a tasty willing snack that is too dumb to know to be afraid of something higher on the food chain.”

 

Kimmy blushed a furious red and couldn’t believe some crazy girl who had just sniffed all over Niall like a dog had the audacity to call her out on wanting to go to a vampire bar. She didn’t know what the girl’s problem was until she spotted the sun tattoo on the dark hair girl’s arm. Realization dawned on her face and she was ready to return Yara’s venom tenfold.

 

“Listen you crazy Fellowship of the Sun bitch. I don’t need you and your psycho religion telling me what I can and can’t do. I support the AVL and the Vampire Rights Act. You should take your bigotry and hatred somewhere else because here in America, everyone is created equal.”

 

“Really? That’s the angle you’re going with? Civil rights crusader for fangers? Have you ever even met a vampire?”

 

Kimmy wanted to snap at the girl for again calling her out but she couldn’t honestly say she ever had met a vampire. She was too scared and for all the reasons Yara had mentioned but didn’t want to lose face in front of the boys.

 

Fortunately for her, Paul had intervened before things got too heated. All he needed was two silly chits fighting it out and having the press blame it on the boys. Or worse, rumors that One Direction were interested in going to sanguine, or sang, bars. He would definitely need to talk to them before he let them off for the night. He wasn’t about to let them ruin all that they had worked so hard for just to get a quick and possibly deadly high. 

 

“Alright ladies, it’s time for the boys to finish getting ready and for the concert to start. Please make your way to your seats. Ms. DeLuna, it would be our pleasure to escort you to the front row VIP area.”

 

He then gently guided the young girl out who was more than happy to walk with the boys out of the meet and greet room. She melted ever so slightly when Niall held her hand and asked about what subjects she liked best in school. He was concerned, although not as rudely, about the older girls talking about vampire clubs and so obviously coming onto them indiscriminately and sexually in front of such a young fan. So he did his best to distract little Porsia from the drama and let her have the best time she could which was what he cared the most about when it came to his fans.

 

Kimmy was fuming at being dismissed, all because the little brat and her nanny or whatever were some crazy rich religious fanatics. Her dreams of hooking up with someone famous were quickly dashed.

 

Yara dismissed the incident as soon as they were out of sight. She had dealt with her fair deal of idiot fang bangers who had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Normally she would let Darwinism take its course and weed out those foolhardy enough to tangle with the monsters but she wasn’t about to let Porsia think it was OK to go to those types of places. She knew her employer would kill her if her precious granddaughter had suddenly wanted to visit vampire bars because some older girls thought it was cool and thought her puppy love crush would like her more. 

 

“Hi, I thought you were brilliant back there,” a male voice whispered to Yara’s side as they walked through the maze of the arena. 

 

She saw that it was the other tall brunette of the group that wasn’t Liam or Harry. Yara raised her brow in question as it wasn’t everyday that someone commended her on mouthing off on two idiot fang bangers. Normally she was labeled as a racist or uncool; then there were the odd super vampire hater that invited her to “Meet the Sun” parties, she never partook. 

 

“I’m not actually a member of the Fellowship of the Sun.”

  
“I didn’t really think you were. Some of our American fans are and very few pockets in England are showing up but they are much more ‘come to my church service and see a few vampires burn in the sun.’ They’re a lot scarier than you.”

 

“So I’m just a little scary?”

 

“Just a bit, yeah. But I think you’re right. Not about the souless part, God only knows really but I think they’re much more dangerous than they let on. Like you said, they don’t have fangs for nothin’. And all that bollocks about them being infected with some virus.”

 

“Right. If they’re as harmless as they say they are, why hide that they’re unnatural creatures that want blood? Why try to blame it on a virus?”

 

“I think the IVU thought it wasn’t as PR savy.” He joked, referring the International Vampire Union.

 

“Your two friends don’t seem to share in your view,” Yara motioned to the two in front of them, walking at a more brisk pace than was necessary. It was obvious that they wanted to avoid the apparent religious nut who wanted to ruin their fun. 

 

“Harry and Z can be daft at times. They like to party and flirt with disaster. But every so often I bring them back to earth,” then he proceeded to take clothes line pins he had hidden in his pockets and cinch them onto the aforementioned male’s clothes. Yara tried her best not to laugh out loud but it was difficult with the prankster of the group kept messing with them and they had no idea. They were going to go onstage with a bunch of pins on them and she wondered if anyone would notice.

 

Louis trailed back to her and they had a good laugh. 

 

“You’re smart to fear them. Here, take this card. I know a really good silver jeweler, she can make whatever you want. Just tell her I recommended her to you and she’ll give you a really good deal.”

 

He cordially took the card and it read:

 

Silver Moon Jewelers

Lupita Juarez 

Waldorf, MD 

 

The business card was on heavy cardstock and had a crescent moon watermark; the silver lettering shimmered under the light. He never really thought about protecting himself from vampires, other than the can of garlic and silver nitrate mace he carried with him. He knew that Paul had wanted them to get fully decked out with anti-vampire security but the equipment was pricy, even for stars like themselves. Their management team had felt they couldn’t justify the expense when no vampire had attacked them and they didn’t want to insult the vampire community by implying they didn’t trust them and needed the security. 

 

But he was grateful for the tip. While they couldn’t afford UV security lights installed on their bus he certainly could purchase a subtle silver chain that wouldn’t look out of place. 

 

“ _I should probably pick something up for Nell while I’m at it; a nice thick silver chain with a magnolia flower on it. That’d be a nice and innocuous gift,_ ” he thought to himself as he pocketed the card. 

 

“Thanks, I’ll be sure to check into it.”

 

“Just be warned that she’s this uber wiccan hippy chick and she’s probably going to proposition you to become vegan like three times before you actually get to buy anything. And by probably I mean definitely.”

 

“She doesn’t have an online store?” he asked, hoping he could avoid that kind of confrontation. 

 

“She doesn’t believe in using the internet. She has this ultra crazy liberal notion of ‘the man’ always watching so at most she’ll take phone orders.”

 

“Well I’ve been propositioned with worse,” Louis joked cheekily. 

 

“If she knows you have a girlfriend, which according to Porsia and Wikipedia you do, then she won’t offer sex…unless your girlfriend is there too and wants to join in. Then, according to her, it’s not cheating and it’s alright.”

 

“Wow…you know some interesting people.”

 

“That’s a very polite and British way of putting it.”

 

Liam was in front of the procession, trying his hardest to ignore the cute giggling behind him and squash down the sour mood that blossomed. 

 

“Mad because you couldn’t pull that cute exotic American bird?” Zayn asked his surly friend. 

 

“I’m not mad…” Liam denied a little too quickly. He wasn’t angry, truly he wasn’t. He wasn’t the type to get mad about a girl not paying attention to him. Annoyed, he was more annoyed than anything. The first girl to come along to treat him like a regular person was treating him like a regular person; as if he weren’t a pop star and therefore her entire attention didn’t need to be focused on him. It was a relief on one hand but on the other it meant that she could easily talk to the other lads and he’d fallen off her radar. He was hesitant and hated to admit that being in One Direction might have made him a bit of a self-centered twat and used to having the undivided attention of all females in any given group.

 

Being British and a gentleman, he would never make a scene and demand attention. So he had to settle for hearing her light laughter while others enjoyed her vivacious company and sarcastic humor. 

 

The girls were brought to their seats, front row and center. The perfect view and within arm shot of the boys when they would get on stage. 

 

Yara could tell that little Porsia was almost floating with happiness, the pure glow and excitement only puppy love could produce. 

 

“ _Oh boy_ ,” she thought, amused at how strongly and quickly young infatuation could form and completely blow over a little girl. With the dreamy and faraway look in Porsia’s eyes, she was certain the gifted student was already seriously planning out her life to include the adorable Niall Horan and Zayn was no longer the backup option. 

 

Yara desperately wanted the concert to start because even though they had been sitting for only ten minutes, with her young charge going on and on about **The Niall Horan** , it felt like an eternity. The talkative pre-teen was jabbering her jaw off about how smart the blond crooner was and how they’d be perfect together, especially once she got her own business off the ground.

 

The older girl looked longingly towards the back of the arena; she could see other teen girls just as eager as Porsia for the concert to start staring daggers at them for having such great seats.

 

“ _I bet if I say something salacious against Harry they’ll rip me to shreds and end my misery._ ”

 

Then as if the gods had heard her prayers, the lights dimmed and five energetic boys rushed to the stage and performed songs of having fun and being in love.

 

The show was…entertaining. That was the best Yara could describe it as. It wasn’t life changing or deep in any sense of the word, but it was enjoyable to see the guys bouncing around the arena and having the time of their lives. Part of it was diminished from the ear piercing screeches of young girls in love who could only articulate their feelings by making sounds she hadn’t heard since visiting the zoo. Still, even the unholy call of pubescent teen girls seemed to only egg the boys on and give them even more energy.

 

She laughed at the clothes pins that neither Harry nor Zayn had noticed yet and returned the mischievous wink Louis threw her way in diabolical camaraderie. 

 

When there was a break between songs, the boys took full advantage to take the mick out of one another, showing the crowd what it was like to perform on stage with your best friends. 

 

Porsia took advantage of the silence and asked Yara, 

 

“Isn’t this amazing?”

 

She expected nothing short of high praises and total agreement. 

 

The young girl should have known better than to ask her guardian what Yara thought.

 

“When we went to see Justin Bieber, he danced. These boys don’t and the ticket prices are almost the same. I feel like we should get a partial refund for lack of synchronized dancing.”

 

Yara laughed loudly at the profoundly dour look that donned the girl’s face for daring to speak nothing but admiration of One Direction. 

 

Then with inhuman speed, a blur rushed to the stage and the boys stopped messing around. The entire Verizon Center hushed and remained silent as a tall redhead looked at the boys with wide eyed wonder. They knew she could only be a vampire because only the undead could move with such speed.

 

If anyone had any doubts, the descent of her fangs after a deep breath removed all uncertainty. 

 

Liam swallowed hard and stood perfectly still, his instincts tell him to not move a muscle or else the predator would see them as prey and charge. He didn’t know what to do and his security team was just as baffled. This was their first encounter with a vampire and honestly they never expected one to show up at their concerts. The undead had always been portrayed as other worldly creatures that wouldn’t deign to step foot into a pop concert much less one for a boy band that sang about staying up all night. The thought had been laughable at best but now they wondered if Paul’s insistence for vampire security was justified. 

 

“You smell of the stars that shine in the night and the one I am no longer allowed to see,” the flame haired vampire said in a dreamy voice. Her pupils dilated to the point there were there could only see a thin ring of an unknown eye color. The boys had a feeling she wasn’t quite living in reality. 

 

All five boys had subconsciously huddled together slowly and weren’t sure which one she was talking about but they needed to do something and quickly. Liam, Louis, Harry, and Zayn all instinctively stood in front of Niall to protect him. 

 

Zayn had blinked and in that millisecond Yara was standing between them and the vampire. He wasn’t sure what he was seeing and it took his mind a moment to process what was happening.

 

“Have you lost your mind? Put your fangs away,” Yara said in a low deadly voice that left no room for argument. 

 

The vampire paid the girl no heed as she was lost in the scent of sunny days that she would never see again. The boy’s blood sang out to her, promising her vitality and echoes of ecstasy that she had never dreamed of. She even felt stronger and as if she was still alive around him. She had moved to attack but the dark curly haired one in her path dropped her own fangs and hissed a warning to not move a step further. 

 

Louis could not believe that the girl he was pissing around with backstage was the same one that had fangs and hissed before him. It was a haunting type sound, not the fake Hollywood actors that mimicked cats’ type of hiss. It was the sound of a dangerous predator that gave a dire warning not to mess with them. 

 

The ginger vampire still did not heed the forewarning and made to get the meal she so desperately wanted, taking in another breath of the tantalizing smell the blond member was giving off. Before she could even take a lungful of air, her throat was seized and her windpipe shattered. The shorter vampire was a lot more powerful than she had anticipated and being newly made, she had yet to be trained to fully defend herself against her own kind. Unspeakable pain burst in her neck and she was surprised she was able to thrash around as she did, desperate to stop the hurt that radiated from the other vampire’s clutch. 

 

All the boys and the crowd could see was the attacking vampire’s arms and legs whirl in a blur as she tried to escape the unmoving fist of Yara. With one swift motion, the dark haired beauty threw the other vampire down, breaking the first layer of the stage.

 

“Security, get the boys off the stage now!” she growled at the gawking three hundred plus pound guards that had been shocked stupid. But with the authoritative voice and the threat laced order if they were to not comply spurred them into action. The boys were then surrounded by their security and barking orders to get a vehicle ready for them.

 

The redheaded vampire still struggled and Yara only tightened her grip. She knew it wouldn’t kill the other vampire but it would hurt like hell and immobilize. She was then thrown off the injured undead and with quick reflexes and grace, she landed on her feet and skidded across the stage. The guards and the band members froze at the new threat, wondering if Yara would be able to fend off two of her kind. They didn’t need to worry as she ran to the new vampire, the other’s maker from the way he was protecting the newly made, and pushed him against a support beam of the stage, a solid aluminum pole that bent from the force as if it were made of foil. Her hands with their razor sharp nails dug into his midsection and she easily subdued him. While he was stronger than the newly made vampire, he was nothing compared to her over five hundred year age and a century of training.

 

“As sheriff of Area 2 I command you to cease.”                                                                                                                                    

 

The vampire’s eyes widen when he realized who she was and stopped as she commanded. He wasn’t sure what was going on other than he felt the buzz of his progeny in danger and the vampire before him hurting his childe. 

 

Liam listened closely, wondering what a vampire sheriff was and why it made the other stop and listen. The dichotomy of the girl he met behind stage and the one before him was intriguing and he wondered so much about her. 

 

“Take your progeny and get out, I’ll deal with you two later.”

 

Yara didn’t say another word as they both rushed out of the arena, she with her charge the crying and very upset Porsia and he with his childe. As the world turned into a haze as he ran, he dreaded of the consequences. Not only had his progeny gotten into a fight with the sheriff of Area 2 but they had done so in front of hundreds of humans. If the Queen didn’t give him the True Death then certainly The Authority would as they held more power than the local monarch. 

 

The entire arena breathed a sigh of relief as the danger had left but then a mini panic set in, many worried parents scared that there might be more vampires lurking in the darkness and wanted nothing more than to get out and as far away from the Verizon Center as they possibly could. Most of the teenagers with cell phones were busy posting what they caught on their cameras and gossiping about how they all almost died. 

The fury of the One Direction fan base would be swift and unforgiving. 

 

Paul found his voice and barked orders to evacuate and wondered what kind of PR nightmare the night would turn into. All hearts were racing as they moved swiftly into the waiting limo that broke all sorts of laws getting to a safe place. They boys were all speechless at what had occurred; they looked at each other as if wanting to know what reaction was proper. 

 

Zayn was the first to make a sound, a nervous laugh expelled from his lungs and he ran both hands through his hair. The rush of adrenaline was more than any concert he had performed and he couldn’t believe that was his first interaction with a vampire. He couldn’t believe the cute bird he was talking to just moments before the concert, so seemingly harmless, was such a force to be reckoned with. 

 

As insane as it sounded because his life was literally in danger not more than three minutes ago, he couldn’t wait to meet her again. 

 

Porsia was still crying when Yara ran them to the limo, Rooney having sped out of there without having to be told to. The sheriff immediately got on her phone after she made sure her charge was unhurt.

 

“Team Six, inform the Queen that Little Sparrow is secure. I need an emergency crew at the Verizon center **right this second**. There has been a compromise to mainstreaming. We have thousands of eye witnesses to a new vampire dropping fang and threatening high profile humans. We need the IT crew to work on squelching any video that might leak from camera phones to Youtube and/or Facebook. Call in clean-up crews from other states, we need as many who can glamour as possible.”

 

Yara then frantically made several other phone calls but she was certain the damage was already done. She knew that some humans must have left as soon as the vampire showed her fangs and others probably posted videos to Youtube and Facebook just as quickly. 

 

“Fucking camera phones,” she said under her breath as they drove through rush hour traffic, probably made worse by her actions tonight.

 

“I need to call the AVL, where’s Nan Flannigan’s number?” Yara asked herself then something dawned on her. “Shit, no she’s met the True Death. Who’s that new spokesperson? The former FotS douchebag…”

 

“Steve Newlin,” Rooney answered helpfully.

 

“Thanks Roon.”

 

The dark haired vampire dialed the number but it went straight to voicemail. The newly made Rev. Newlin was a busy man and the Authority made a lot of use of the former hunter turned Vampire. 

 

Porsia had calmed down somewhat, tears still streamed down her face but she wasn’t as loudly sobbing as before.

 

“Hey little one, I’m sorry your night was ruined.”

 

“The night is not just ruined but my whole life is too; now Niall will never want to marry me because that bad vampire probably made him scared of all vampires.”

 

Leave it to an eleven year old to see the true disaster of the situation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please review! Thanx!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik are property of Syco…just kidding! I have no idea who has legal proprietary rights over the boys' image/likeness/etc...but I do know that it is not me. So any recognizable person(s) - including but not limited to: family members, staff, romantic partners, etc...- and their likenesses is used in a purely fictitious manner and I am not earning or collecting anything of value, monetary or otherwise. 
> 
> Trueblood, The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries, and anything there within belong to Charlene Harris. 
> 
> As for any original content: any likeness, similarities, or resemblance to actual persons (living dead or undead) places, and events are unintentional and purely coincidental.

Kristofor Trauben had been alive for well over two hundred years; he couldn’t believe it could all be over because of his newest progeny and a British Pop band.

He and his childe, Antonia, stood before the Queen of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia and awaited their fate.

They stood in pure opulence, Italian marble with the DeLuna family crest designed into its face. Gold leaf gilded onto all moldings and Swarovski chandeliers sparkled above them. The Queen sat stony faced in a grand oak throne, cushioned with pure down feathers. The moon in all its stages was ornately carved throughout the imposing chair. 

Yara, the Sheriff of Area 2 and the Queen’s second in command, stood next to the throne; her face not revealing any emotion or what was to become of the condemned. She was no longer clothed in casual wear but in her normal uniform of a black long sleeved shirt and cargo pants. A utility belt with various weapons such as a gun with wooden bullets and silver tipped shurikens adorned her hip. The Sheriff no longer looked like the average teenage girl with a carefree life but a deadly guard who was willing to put anyone down when needed. 

“What do you have to say for yourself and your progeny?” The Queen finally spoke, her demeanor impatient and unwilling to deal with the slightest bit of foolery.

Kirstofor swallowed hard and controlled his breathing. He needed to be eloquent and humble before the Queen if at the very least he wanted to get away with his own life. As much as it pained him to lose a childe, he wasn’t about to go down for one who would get into so much trouble and do something so foolish.

“Your Majesty, we beg of your mercy. Antonia is just a mere sapling. Only borne six months ago, she’s still learning to control her urges.”

“Why was your progeny, practically just out of the ground, allowed to go to a concert filled with humans and young blood unescorted?”

“It was a foolish decision on my part, that I concede but we thought it would be alright for her to go to a concert since…”

“You didn’t want to see a boy band?” Yara finished snidely for him, knowing full well why he wasn’t with this progeny. Any maker with any sense knew not to leave his progeny alone for at least a year if not more. The advent of synthetic blood made it easier for a newborn to survive but it did not quell their natural instinct to hunt. 

He knew better than to argue with her and he remained quiet, hoping that his good manners would count for something. He did make the grievous mistake of thinking his progeny was ready to be left alone. She had taken to the synthetic blood well enough and didn’t have a propensity towards violence. He wasn’t sure what caused his childe to lose control and he was certain “His blood was irresistible” would not hold up to the Queen’s scrutiny.

Unfortunately for him, his childe did not have the same kind of sense for self preservation.

“It’s not his fault he didn’t want to go see a bunch of boys jump around stage…and it’s not my fault I attacked him. He smelled…better than anything I’ve ever smelled before. I needed to taste him. I…”

“That’s enough. I don’t care how good a human smells, you can’t just go around biting them. It’s against the law. And to do it in front of so many humans? Why shouldn’t I give you both the True Death right here and now?”

“No! You have to believe me, he is different. He’s not like any human I’ve ever smelled before. His blood called to me.”

“Yara, you were at the concert. Did you smell anything out of the ordinary?”

“No, my Queen. I think she just smelled the tantalizing smell of young and virile blood and she wasn’t used to it. It certainly is more appetizing than Redstuff. While I’m sure they would be delicious, there is no excuse for attacking a famous group of singers just because she wants their blood and they’re cute.”

Antonia tried to argue some more, make them understand that it wasn’t just young and hot blood of youth but something more, something she couldn’t describe or identify. If only the boy was there, they’d smell him too and wouldn’t be able to resist the siren call of his blood; that she had no doubt. 

“This is what is going to happen,” the Queen stated and stopped the arguing. “Antonia, childe of Kristofor, you are sentenced to be bound in silver. Your fangs will be removed and you will not be allowed blood, synthetic or otherwise. Once they grow back, if you survive, you will remain bound for another six months with nothing but True Blood, Lifeflow, or Redstuff to feed on. You will learn to love nothing but synthetic blood.”

Blood tears ran down the young vampire’s face as her sentence was ordered. She thought when she was first made that eternity lay before her but the possibility of True Death from starvation would cut that lifetime much shorter than she anticipated. Her maker stood absolutely still as he knew he was not going to escape from punishment. 

“Kristofor, childe of Hans, you are sentenced to be bound as well nothing but True Blood. Both of you will learn to never feed off a human again. Furthermore, since you seem to have absolutely no sense when it comes to watching your progeny you are banned from creating henceforth and banished from my Queendom.”

The last decree hurt the most, as a vampire being a maker was one of the greatest role they could ever hope to attain. Still, he was grateful that he was leaving with his life and that of his childe. It was going to be a tough road ahead of them but the Queen was more than generous, especially in their ruthless culture. 

“Before your punishment is met out, you will make a public televised statement with the AVL spokesman Steve Newlin. You will denounce your behavior and explain that you are nothing more than a baby vampire who didn’t know what she was doing. It was a lapse in judgment that will never be done again. Other AVL affiliates will give you a rundown of everything you are to say, wear, and do. You are dismissed.”

With that, the two disappeared from the Queen’s sight and would do as they were told. 

“So what actually happened?” The monarch asked her subject, knowing full well the explanation wasn’t the entire story. 

“The newborn is right; there is something extraordinary about one of them. His blood…I’m over five hundred years old and he almost made me drop fang in front of a group of people.”

The Queen’s eyebrows shot up in shock as Yara was one of the most controlled vampires she had ever met. 

“Do you know why?”

“If I had to guess I would say he’s not entirely…human.”

“Then what is he?”

“I had only ever come across a smell that made me lose control like that once. It was before we met, it was 1912 in Ireland. I was in Queenstown for the last stop in Europe for the maiden voyage of the Titanic. Everyone was celebrating the Ship of Dreams, I wanted an easy snack and with all the drunks milling about it couldn’t get any simpler. When I was feeding off a Swede who had lost his ticket for the expedition in a poker game, I caught the smell of…”

The Queen waited patiently as her subject struggled to come up with the right adjectives, a sense of foreboding came over her as it seemed the boy was in more danger than they realized. 

“The smell was like a star being born or the dawn of the day. I knew that I needed to sink my fangs into it and drink as deeply as I could. I saw a shadow of someone running away from the alley I was in. I dropped my prey, not sure if he survived and not caring. I ran towards it without thought or plan. I didn’t care if anyone saw me with blood dropping down my mouth or run with inhuman speed. My entire focus was on finding the origin of that scent. But whatever it was, it was fast enough to elude a vampire at full speed. I eventually traced it to an empty field but found nothing. I frantically looked until almost sunrise. I never smelled it again and that boy reminded me of that night.”

“Which member?”

“The blond one, Niall.”

“Porsia’s favorite…this is a problem. He’s traveling across the county, who knows how many vampires will catch his scent.”

“I’m surprised he hasn’t been attacked already.”

“Most vampires wouldn’t be caught truly dead at a pop concert. But with the invention of synthetic blood, there’s been a boom in creating. All these young vampires can still hold onto a lot of their human life because of The Great Revelation. They go to concerts and clubs and he’s everywhere touring. This could be a real danger to him and to mainstreaming.”

Yara was getting wearing of where her Queen was going with that train of thought.

“He’s going to need protection,” The Queen pressed on.

“Yes, well it’s almost dawn and I really should go,” the Sheriff said to get out of there as soon as she could, really not liking the implications laced in her monarch’s voice.

“Yara, we have to protect him.”

“We? Why? Not to diminish his life but he’s just a singer. I’m sure his management team will order all the security they can handle in light of things.”

“Yes but we also need to make a good impression upon the public. That not only was this an isolated incident but it’s one we condemn. I’ve spoken with the AVL…”

“This can’t be good.”

“And it was decided that you are to accompany them as a personal bodyguard against over excited vampires.”

“No.”

The Queen had thought her Sheriff would be reluctant but was not expecting such a succinct reply.

“Yara, you must know what is at stake here…”

“No. Catalina,” Yara pleaded by using their friendship and saying the Queen’s name. “I am a Sheriff, not a baby sitter. I didn’t study multiple martial arts and weapons to protect a teen heartthrob. Did Porsia put you up to this? I knew you were spoiling her too much.”

“This isn’t about Porsia or protecting a pop singer. This is about protecting our interests. We are in a highly precarious situation. The VRA has gotten nowhere and will probably die in congress next term. Tensions are mounting with all the scandals in Louisiana and the Sanguine movement is gaining momentum. Humans are afraid and they are mobilizing to strike against us. Our only hope of survival in a world where humans outnumber us twenty to one is to live peacefully with them. Mainstreaming has to work. If not then Civil War will break out and where will we be then? How am I to protect my human and vampire family if they are at war with each other? I am certain both sides would use the other against me.”

Yara let the implications of the night’s debacle sink in. Catalina was right; it was just another PR blunder that would fan the flames of anti-Vampire sentiment. A lot of their people thought the Great Revelation, vampires revealing themselves to the world, was a huge mistake. Some felt it put them in undue danger as humans would never trust them. Others felt that they shouldn’t have to make nice with their food. 

The Queen was a powerful person within the vampire and human world. She controlled enterprises and the entire states of Maryland and Virginia as well as DC. She had both vampire progeny and human descendants that she had taken care of even after she was made. She had a lot to lose if war broke out and if Yara was anything, she was loyal.

It also didn’t help that Catalina was giving her the biggest doe eyes she had ever seen; making it all but impossible to say no to. It was a regrettable trait inherited by Porsia. 

“What makes you think I won’t drain him? I barely had enough control to not reveal myself. I could just as easily drain him dry as the next vampire.” Yara asked her resistance fading. 

“You have the most control over your hunger than any vampire I know. You drink like you’re two thousand, needing a couple of bottles every couple days on average. And you’re the only vampire crazy enough to actually like True Blood.”

“We would have to summit with all four clans and then ask permission from each sheriff and their monarch for me to travel with those boys; they’re touring all over America.”

Yara was hoping that the bureaucratic nightmare having her travel across the U.S. would be enough to deter her Queen. 

“Yara, it’s the 21st century. I know you’re allergic to technology but they have video conferencing now. We don’t have to have a summit and I’ll email all the appropriate people to let you know you’re coming. They have streamlined the process now. No need to prostrate yourself to every King, Queen, or sheriff.”

She hated when Catalina made sense.  

“What are we going to tell them?” Yara finally admitted defeat. 

“Yes! I knew you would cave in.”

The Sheriff simply rolled her eyes and motioned for the Queen to move on.

“The AVL is spinning the story as a baby vampire fan who got way too excited. She didn’t mean any harm and dropping fang was akin to an ‘erection’ in our world. It didn’t necessarily mean that she was going to attack him but it was more of a sexual response. Fortunately for us, you seem to have become somewhat of a folk hero. You’re the vampire who saved their beloved One Direction and ‘kicked some major ass’ as the memes are saying. As well as the ‘gingers have no soul so the vampire was doubly evil’ meme. The AVL are going to offer the boys full anti-vampire security on their busses and any transportation they use. Silver misters, the busses will be under their name and therefore counts as their home as they will sleep there so no vampire can enter without permission, and many other precautions.”

“And if they refuse? It’s one thing to put a few things on a bus; it’s another to have a vampire at their side from nightfall till dawn.”

“As Queen of DC, Maryland, and Virginia I am also offering a generous recompense for the incident occurring in my Queendom. While they might be frightened at the ordeal, I highly doubt they would refuse my offer.”

Yara accepted the Queen’s terms as she was familiar with how much money could comfort someone after a time of trial; the Queen had enough money to comfort the entire Verizon center if she so choose. 

“And if they need protection during the day?”

“No other supe has come out and it’s doubtful they would risk exposure going for the boy. Also, no shifter, were, or witch has shown any madness for blood and doubtful they’d have any use for Niall. Even if they did, I know that you would be able to…take care of things,” The Queen’s words heavy with implication as she subtly touched on Yara’s right shoulder. 

Yara respectfully nodded her acquiescence and mentally prepared what she would need to start her new duties.

The Queen studied her subject carefully, wondering how to word her next question.

“What is it that you think he is?”

“I wouldn’t have a clue. I never found the being I followed in Ireland.”

“Do you think he could be a descendant? Or is it possible he is the original being you hunted?”

“Possible he is the same being but unlikely. I’m fairly certain whatever I pursued saw me for what I was, that he saw me feeding. Niall seemed like any other teenage human and completely unaware of what I was. The scent isn’t the same either. The being I trailed was the flame of the stars. Niall is…memories long forgotten but still felt.”

“There are rumors of fae…in the deep south. They are saying they can light the night sky, read human minds, and resist our glamour.”

“Fae? Do they have little butterfly wings and die if we say we don’t believe in them? Don’t listen to such nonsense. They’re about as real as big foot, Santa Clause, or talent within the Kardashian family.”

“You never came across any in all of your travels and research?”

“My research was that of a desperate woman chasing after the horizon. No matter how much I ran, it was always out of my reach as it is with all vampires. Fairies are nothing but vampire urban legends for those stupid enough to dream of returning to the Sun.”

“Should we tell Niall of his situation?”

“Tell him what? He might not be entirely human and we have no idea what that non-human part is? Why destroy his world and bring him into one he’s surely not to fit in with? Besides, it’s probably best they don’t know he’s a specific target. It’d ruin the illusion that our attraction is based solely on their fame and good looks. If word got out that one of them had irresistible blood, might have a panic on our hands.”

“That is true. We meet with them at sunset tomorrow. As a precaution, the AVL will do a teleconference. I want as little vampire interaction between the boys and the Authority as possible. Thankfully they have better things to worry about than a teen pop group and didn’t argue. It saved them a flight up here.”

“The Sanguinistas are still a problem?”

“As any other fanatic religious cult is. I wish they and the FotS would just meet in an arena and fight it out. Let them both destroy each other and leave sane society alone.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone is enjoying the story. Please leave a review or kudos! Thanx!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik are property of Syco…just kidding! I have no idea who has legal proprietary rights over the boys' image/likeness/etc...but I do know that it is not me. So any recognizable person(s) - including but not limited to: family members, staff, romantic partners, etc...- and their likenesses is used in a purely fictitious manner and I am not earning or collecting anything of value, monetary or otherwise. 
> 
> Trueblood, The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries, and anything there within belong to Charlene Harris. 
> 
> As for any original content: any likeness, similarities, or resemblance to actual persons (living dead or undead) places, and events are unintentional and purely coincidental.

Liam sat in a lavish room he thought would be better suited for the Royal family. Everything looked as if he’d be breaking a law if he sat on it or stood too close. He half expected one of the servants or even a security guard to reprimand him for breathing on the antique furniture.

There was a long table filled with little finger foods and drinks. It looked as if their host didn’t have a clue as to what their guest would like and settled on everything.

He was a little too nervous to eat the plethora of food and settled on a citrus Tango. He knew that he was waiting for someone important within the vampire community. They had already seen the video conference the AVL conducted with the vampire that had rushed to the stage. They accepted her apologies and explanation. At least most of them did, Louis was still shaken up and untrusting of the undead. From the nervous knee shaking and biting his nails, Liam could tell that his band mate did not want to be there.

“What are we doing here anyway?” Louis finally asked, couldn’t take the suspense any longer. He wondered how Harry and Zayn could be calm as they stuffed their faces with the delectable little finger foods.

“The AVL has an associate that wishes to speak to us,” Simon Cowell, their long time mentor and friend told him; trying to comfort him as best he could knowing how unsettled the teen felt with what happened.

“What more could they bloody well say? Sorry for nearly ripping your throat out, no hard feeling eh?”

“That’s enough. Steve Newlin and Miss. Antonia explained the situation. She got a little too excited and ran onto the stage. She’s just like any other fan…”

“Except that she could rip us to pieces if she wanted to.”

“She could and she didn’t. Honestly, what fan of yours wouldn’t do that if given the chance?”

“It’s one thing if a human girl comes up to us and steals a hug or even claws at us and gives us a little scratch. That vampire was going drink us dry.”

“Don’t be so over dramatic. And get rid of the bad attitude against vampires. You don’t want to alienate any portion of your fanbase. You were defended by a vampire, mind you.

“Yes, can we please talk about how Yara was a vampire the entire time and no one noticed?” Harry begged.

Louis’s eyes became wider and if possible, he was more nervous. Harry had a point; he had been pissing around with her back stage and having a laugh with the girl. They had all talked to her at least once and no one had even the slightest clue she was a vampire. If anything, they thought she was a member of the Fellowship of the Sun. The vampire hate group who always proudly denounced the undead and even had rumors of killing them for sport. She certainly became heated at the thought of going to a vampire bar. Was she pretending to fit in better or did she actually believe her kind were soulless monsters?

“Well she was perfectly lovely, I think,” Zayn interjected.

“You didn’t think that when she shot down the idea of going to a vampire pub,” Liam pointed out. Remembering how sullen the Muslim felt when their dreams of going to a vampire bar was dashed.

“Why were you talking about going to a sang bar?” Simon asked accusingly, not wanting to believe the boys would be stupid enough to go to such an unsavory place.

“Ummm…well it wasn’t like it was our idea. One of the fans brought it up, we weren’t actually going to go. We couldn’t shoot down a fan like that without making it on Youtube or Tumblr,” Harry thought quickly. It wasn’t a complete lie but it was enough to get Simon off their backs.

Their mentor looked as if he didn’t quite believe them but let the subject drop. It was neither here nor there and it wasn’t worth chiding them over it. He knew if he pushed too hard the bullheaded teens would push back even harder and possibly do something incredibly stupid. They had all the time in the world after their squeaky clean boy band image lost its appeal to do whatever dangerous stupid thing they wanted but for now, they had to keep up their reputations.

Harry and Zayn relaxed, knowing they were not going to get into any trouble. Liam mouthed “I’m sorry” to them, not meaning to get them into any kind of problem. They shook their heads to let their brother know they weren’t mad and brushed the whole ordeal off.

Then a couple of men came in with servant livery and set up a TV. They all gathered around the television and on it appeared little Porsia DeLuna.

“Hi guys. I’m so sorry about what happened at the concert and I hope that you don’t hold it against the vampire community. I’m told you already heard Kristopher and Antonia’s apology and my grandmother would like to make an official statement.”

The girl was dressed in a cute little sundress and looked very proud and grown up for being chosen to help speak to One Direction.

“Thank you Porsia. Hello, I’m Catalina DeLuna. It is a pleasure to talk to you personally. I apologize for the teleconference but I have some business in Japan and it works out with your daytime schedule,” one of the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen appeared on screen and smiled at them.

She was certainly the fittest “grandmother” he had ever seen.

Catalina forwent her title as humans were not aware of their inner government and she wouldn’t be the one to reveal it to them. As far as they were concerned, she was a private entity that was speaking for herself and her family only.

The Queen went on to apologize for her fellow vampire’s behavior and that it would not be repeated. She stressed that it was an isolated incident that merely happened because the girl was just a huge fan and was not in control of her senses enough. The vampire should not have been left alone without her maker and stressed that while it is easier to be besides humans with the advent of synthetic blood, vampires were not perfect and there was a learning phase. She did appreciate their patience and understanding.

“To show our sincerest apologies and gratitude for your patience, please accept these tokens.”

At those words a small army of servants in the DeLuna livery of silver and black, walked gracefully into the room; all were holding black velvet pillows with jewelry and fine clothing upon them.

“I do hope the various pure silver chains and other jewelry are to your liking. Do not feel as if you have to accept anything if they are not to your tastes. My master jeweler, Mr. Holbein, will be more than happy to personally design anything you like. The shirts are either 100% cotton or silk with fine silver thread laced subtly throughout. It is not enough to be noticeable without a magnifying glass but will be able to ward off any unwanted attention from a vampire. As you were debriefed by the AVL, your new busses have been supplied with the top of the line anti-vampire equipment, compliment of the DeLuna family. I do hope that these precautions will ease your fears of any…over zealous vampire fan you may have.”

The boys were shocked at the many gifts the DeLuna vampire matriarch was showering them with. Even Louis couldn’t resist the temptation of such finery as an apology. He did worry that the multitude of silver and anti-vampire gadgets were proof that he needed to be worried about something. Even if there was, he did acknowledge that the woman had more than supplied them with everything they would need to protect themselves.

Or so he thought.

“There is one last provision I would like to offer you, if you and your team would accept.”

The boys had stopped looking at all the gifts and turned their attention back to the beautiful vampiress.

“As adept as your security team may be and with all the precautions, there would still be certain situations you may find yourself where jewelry and silver laced clothing isn’t enough. You won’t always be on your bus and hotels do not afford the protection of a private home. So I am offering the service of my personal body guard, Yara Solis.”

Liam, Zayn, and Harry’s ears perked up at the mention of their vampire savior, all for different reasons. Liam had wanted another chance to feel normal and he felt the vampire would do that for him. He understood that she was probably vastly older than she looked, she had told him as much, and being in a boy band was probably so beneath her notice she would never deign to treat him as anything other than another normal human.

Zayn was excited to have another chance meeting with a vampire. He knew she wasn’t the type to scoff down at not only his young age but his occupation as well. He had always wanted to meet a vampire and now he would have his chance of having one around the clock. Vampires were danger and excitement wrapped in a delicious package and he was certain his charms would not fail him. He was even sure Perrie would want to get in on the deal as she had her own designs for vampires. He was absolutely certain Yara could introduce them to their mysterious world.

Harry was looking forward to befriending, maybe shagging if it was on the table, Yara and get any detail he could on the beautiful Catalina DeLuna. His piece de resistance to his entire life could be bedding the gorgeous vampire who was probably decades if not centuries older than himself. His blood heated at the thought of what her experience and age could bring to the bedroom. Not to mention she probably wouldn’t have silly, simple, or petty notions of relationships unlike the blonde he recently broke up with who shall not be named because he was pretty sure he hated the aforementioned ex girlfriend but he was a classy guy who would not throw a hissy fit for all to see and hear.

“We’ll need to have a team meeting, if you don’t mind?” Simon answered for the group and Catalina was gracious enough to mute and turn off the screen.

When the TV went black, their mentor turned to them and asked what they thought.

Liam, Harry, and Zayn all agreed it was a good idea. As much as they appreciated their security team, they were certain if there were a vampire threat they’d be nothing but blood bags.

Niall wasn’t sure and he felt he should abstain from the vote as he could give a million reasons to either side. They agreed as they did not want the statistical rundown of all possibilities.

Louis objected saying they were basically hiring a lion to protect them from lions. It didn’t make sense and if it was such an isolated incident, why did they need so much more security? How could they tell them vampires were no danger if at the same time they upped their security and offered a personal bodyguard?

“Something ain’t right fellas and I think you all know that.”

They didn’t necessarily disagree with him but why not accept the help when it was being offered? There was a stark truth they had to acknowledge. It was a dangerous world with vampires out of the coffin. They were very popular with young girls; young girls that were being turned into vampires. Antonia would not be the last fan who would be turned and they needed to take the necessary precautions. They had at least met Yara and she was prudent and controlled enough to pass as human.

Despite his misgivings, Louis was outnumbered and even Simon agreed it was a good move. Although the eldest member of One Direction suspected it was also due to the fact Yara’s services would be of no charge to their management or Simon’s record label.

That was how Yara found herself on a tour bus the next night, pondering her existence as a glorified babysitter. It was bad enough to be assigned to guard Porsia, at least she could tell herself it was out of loyalty for her Queen. There was honor in protecting her monarch’s surviving blood kin. It was another to be foisted onto a group of barely of age teenage boys because one member’s blood was a siren song.

She could tell not everyone of the group was all the thrilled with her either. The one she had spoken with amicably backstage now looked at her with fear and distrust.

She knew he was the smartest one of the group.

Two of them were like excited puppies, glad to have a new toy and couldn’t wait to play with her. They didn’t realize that she was a scorpion and they the all too trusting turtle. Her true nature urged her to strike out and drink deeply. Even though Niall had the blood that promised sunshine and pleasures unknown, the others had blood that could tantalize even the most discerning palate.

Older vampires asserted that the best tasting blood came from virgins or babies. They had a taste for innocence but Yara was of the opinion that hot blood of those who had blossomed was her favorite. She rarely drank from humans with the advent of synthetic blood, wanting to keep the Authority’s agenda but like her vampire brethren she still preferred the real thing when it came to taste. There was something revitalizing about young blood, blood that had not been tainted by full adulthood yet. She had a legitimate worry when it came to the temptation of the boys’ blood and it looked like at least two of them would be more than willing to share theirs. At least that’s the impression she got from the sudden upbeat of their hearts and distinct pheromones of arousal that permeated off of them.

Then there was Niall, the sweet easy going innocent one of the group. He seemed nervous but wanted to give her a chance. They didn’t speak much backstage; his entire focus was on pleasing his fans, especially the smallest one in the group who was so besotted with him. He put his best smile forward to welcome her to their tour. Numbers and percentages whizzed through his head, all clamoring for dominance of which side he should turn to. He had always been gifted with numbers and his back-up plan for if the X-Factor did not pan out, which he knew it would because numbers were incredibly in his favor, was to go to University to study science and engineering. He had even had offers to MIT and CalTech in America but singing had always been his first love.

They all just stood there awkwardly, she was unsure of what she was even supposed to say.

“Umm…so this is my bus,” felt like the best way to start.  Under no circumstance was she going to play along if she had to share their bus. Fortunately her Queen understood the need for privacy as all vampires did. As well as it would be foolish to put a hungry wolf in a confined space with ribeye steaks.  She then remembered all those episodes of MTV Cribs she watched obsessively with Catalina as they bonded over reality TV and pointed out every upgrade and option available to the market.

The bus itself was made for only one or two occupants unlike theirs with bunks for all of them. She had a luxurious living room as well as a kitchenette and shower. The entire back was a dedicated bedroom with one large queen sized bed in the middle. The boys were slightly jealous because Catalina DeLuna spared no expense in accommodating their bodyguard. They especially liked the huge flat screen that donned almost an entire wall of the bus along with every gaming system on the market and stacks of video games by their brand organized neatly.

They all drooled at the chance to play FIFA during the long boring hours of cross country travel.

“And this is my fridge…what? She got me Pure Royalty?” she asked talking to herself as she saw the monumentally costly and gourmet bottles of blood because she was also looking at her fridge for the first time. “That’s right she got me the best stuff,” Yara continued out loud, forgetting she had guests while she inspected the finely wrought bottles, as she felt she deserved the pricey blood for what she was being compelled to do.

Thinking the boys ought to get used to her vampire-ness she popped a bottle into the microwave and heated it up. She was the picture of nonchalance when her blood was at the appropriate temperature and she took a couple of swigs.

She swished the crimson liquid in her mouth, letting the full and robust flavor settle on her tongue. She wasn’t sure if the blood was worth its asking price but it was definitely better than any of the synthetic brands.

Each boy had a look ranging from curiosity to horrific as she imbibed the blood. She looked them dead on and unapologetic. She wanted nothing more than to get across the point that not only was she a vampire but she was a creature that drank blood. No matter how many teen romance novels and television shows that glamorized her kind, they drank blood; pure and simple. She wanted to break the hold of their over romanticized mystery her kind held over humanity.

The only smart one of the group, Louis, turned white as a ghost and looked rather ill. Zayn and Harry would be a problem because they obviously had a morbid curiosity that she worried would lead to bigger and more problematic issues.

“What does it taste like?” Liam inquired but it wasn’t with the horror she expected from Louis nor was it the macabre inquisitiveness she expected from the two party boys. He had a genuine interest as if she were trying a new milkshake for the first time and he was asking a friend if it was worth to get one himself.

She didn’t know how to answer in human terms. She had been a vampire far longer than she had been human and even then her pre-vampire culinary choices were limited in the closed environment she grew up in. How could she describe real blood in a way they could understand? Potent and life giving were options but even those fell short.

So she opted for sarcasm whenever she was at a loss for words.

“Like generations of inbreeding,” she referred to the dynastic tradition of marrying other royal houses even if they were as close as first cousins and took another drink.

“Is it really blood from Royals?” Niall asked, quickly calculating the possible candidates of who she could be drinking of.

“That’s what they say. It’s certainly expensive enough to be ‘blue blood’ but then again I’ve never fed off a live Royal to tell the difference.”

That was only partially true as her first couple of decades involved taking out the various courtiers of King Henry VIII and Emperor Charles V. She never got close enough to anyone in the royal family unfortunately, although she did very much wish to take out a scion of Isabella of Castile.

She was thankful the boys had enough sense not to ask who she had fed off of as the official vampire story was that they were all misjudged and drank the synthetic blood exclusively since its inception. She was certain everyone knew that was BS but for the sake of mainstreaming everyone said it. She also wondered what exactly humans thought they fed off before True Blood hit the shelves. Perhaps most thought they fed off of animals like their supposed sparkling brethren.

Yara might have to drain someone on principal if they asked if Edward, Lestat, or Spike were actual vampires.

She then showed her sleeping quarters and again they were green with envy. Their bunks were about the size of extra long twin beds, not exactly the roomiest accommodations. Her bed, however, was a full sized queen and looked to be cloud soft. She had rich linens in simple sky blue and half the bed was covered with pillows.

Yara mentioned it was the top of the line bed around but it wasn’t where she actually slept. A vampire only revealed where they lay during the day to precious few. When vampires slept they were literally dead to the world and at their most vulnerable. Where she actually slept was in a hidden compartment behind the shower, barely half the size of one of their bunks and with no cushioning. She didn’t need it as she wasn’t aware of comfort when she slept. They had no reason to be jealous but the bedroom was part of the tour so she might as well show off.  

“I guess this is the part where you guys decide how conspicuous you wish me to be,” she said when there was nothing else to show them.

“What do you mean?” Louis asked, assuming she’d be their scary blood sucking shadow.

“It’s up to you guys how visible you want me to be with the public. I understand you have many young fans and their parents probably wouldn’t want you to be too closely associated with vampires. I can protect you guys from a distance just as well as up close.”

She didn’t mention the fact she could live without being up close and personal with their fanbase on a nightly basis. She had plenty of that during the concert and that was enough for her eternal lifetime. If she could stick to the shadows and be out of the way then that would be preferable.

Again, there were mixed feelings among the boys. Louis was in favor of a more distant approach while Harry and Zayn wanted her as near to them as possible. How were they going to exploit their only connection to the vampire world if she was never around?

Liam wanted her around as well but not necessarily for protection. Even when he knew what and how strong she was, she never lost that easy going nature. She sipped on her blood as if it were a lager and showed them around her bus as if she were co-headlining a tour. He could easily imagine her as a fellow pop star with her wild hair and fun smile. He always imagined vampires as these impossibly tall and threatening creatures but she was almost a head shorter than he was and delicately built. From just looking at her, she was no different physically than their average fan.

He was starting to see that vampires really were…normal.

He wondered what she was like when she was human.

“Did you want to take a tour of our bus?” Liam blurted out, surprising everyone.

Louis’ eyes bugged out, not comfortable with the idea of a vampire in their personal sleeping space. It was bad enough she was on tour with them, having her around while they slept was unnerving to say the least.

“Yes, that’s a brilliant idea,” Harry jumped on the opportunity.

“Well I don’t know if that’s appropriate…” Yara started.

“Nonsense. Everyone on tour is like family and we all hang out. Besides, I want to see just how good you are at FIFA,” Zayn chimed in.

While she hated to admit it, her competitive streak was piqued. It had been a while since a formidable player had challenged her and she wondered if all the hours they spent on their bus had made them any good. Most older vampires still hadn’t joined the 21st century and refused modern entertainment devices. The newer vampires were too beneath her and etiquette dictated that she not fraternize with them, not that she wanted to as baby vamps were too obnoxious with their new found immortality.

She justified a tour of the bus was imperative to her job. She needed to see what weakness, if any, the bus had and what could potentially pose a threat to the security of her charges.

“Sure, no problem. Just let me get a few things,” she agreed while she rummaged through a couple of heavy duty security cases.

They saw her take out a Glock; lock and loaded it with a magazine and holster it on a subtle holder on her hip. Then a simple thin wooden stake was loaded into a hidden spring contraption in her sleeve. Two other pistols had joined her arsenal on her ankle and a back holster. Despite her heavy artillery, she didn’t look like she was burdened at all with a small cache of weapons.

“Ready to go?”

After their initial shock they all enthusiastically, except the oldest member of the group, got off her bus and showed her theirs.

From the outside, there were the nondescript flourish designs of a tour bus. Only the trained eye could see the minute hidden spray nozzles ready to expel silver nitrate into the entry points. There were subtle strips of what she knew to be UV lights that lined the length of the bus. She stopped a couple of yards away from the bus and they wondered why she had.

“Umm…do you guys know if the anti-vampire equipment is on?”

She would really prefer not to be the guinea pig to see if their new security system was up and running.

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Liam apologized sheepishly. Their attempts to welcome her to the tour was not getting off on the right foot. He took out his iPhone and fiddled with the app the installer had shown them. They would have complete control over the system for their bus and with technology everything was user friendly.

He deactivated the controls and she would be able to board the bus. They all piled in but as she got to the doorway, she felt the familiar pushback of a house she was not invited to. Although invisible, there was a force that would not allow her to continue on; a clear wall that despite her vampiric strength, would never allow her to go where she was not wanted.

Zayn was just before her and looked at her quizzically. To the casual observer, she looked a bit like a mime that acted as if they were in a class enclosure. He didn’t understand why she was leaning against the air, or how, and wouldn’t follow them in.

“Yeah…the bus is in your names…you eat, sleep, and basically live here so it fills the requirements of a home…”

It still didn’t seem to dawn on the half Muslim so she made it even clearer.

“I can’t come in without an invitation.”

Louis looked somewhat relieved at least one precaution definitely worked and he was glad for the tip even if it came from vampires. He didn’t relish giving up the safe guard even if it was to a vampire that was supposed to protect them.

“What do we need to do?” Zayn asked.

“Anyone who’s on the title can just give a verbal statement that says I can come in.”

“Yara, would you please come in?”

She wasn’t prepared for the wall to disappear as quickly as it did and she almost fell over as she was leaning against the invisible force. Fortunately her quick reflexes saved her from face planting on the bus stairs and she came on board.

The boys’ bus was identical to hers but with less living space. Their bunks were immediately in front of them and a riot of smells invaded her nose. She could tell what brand of cologne they all used and even who had taken a girl back with them for a quickie on the bus.

Harry had a think for blondes and Zayn used at least five different types of hair product.

Liam was sad, an aroma of depression wafted from his bunk. He hadn’t been happy for a while and she wondered what happened to make such a successful human so miserable.

Niall’s bunk was covered with his scent, overwhelming any information she could gather on him. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into the bunk and roll around like a kitten discovering catnip.

Louis was afraid of her, the sharp tinge of fear permeated off of him. He did not want her there and she understood why. Vampires never revealed where they slept because they were at their most vulnerable. The same went for humans and they were carelessly showing her around their personal space and gave her an invitation.

“If you ever want me to leave, just say ‘I revoke my invitation’ and I won’t be able to stay inside the bus.”

The eldest member of the group tensed when she revealed she could tell how uncomfortable he was around her. He appreciated the information though as he wasn’t aware there was a way to kick her off the bus he if truly didn’t want her there.

He smiled and nodded, letting her know he understood and would only revoke their invitation if absolutely necessary.

Unfortunately, other members of the group were not as prudent as Louis.

“Wait, all we have to say is ‘I revoke my invitation…’” Harry questioned, unbelieving it was that simple, but was unable to finish as a gust of wind came from nowhere and pushed Yara out of the bus. The folding door opened by itself and the vampire was unceremoniously forced from their temporary home and landed hard on the concrete parking lot they were stationed in.

All five mouths dropped at the phenomenon and they couldn’t believe it was easy as that.  With a few careless words their bodyguard was magically expelled from their bus and she wouldn’t be able to come back on.

After their initial shock wore off, Harry felt guilty because it did not seem as if the revocation was gentle and she landed like a rock on the solid stone ground. They also weren’t in the cleanest area and the lot was littered with a few glass bottles and other debris.

They all rushed towards her as did several of the set team. Yara had started to stand up and dust off the dirt that sullied her clothes. There were several lacerations on her arms and face as she had slid a few feet after landing. Before their eyes they saw the miraculous vampire healing abilities. Her blood dried up and cuts disappeared until she looked as if she had not been hurt at all. She didn’t even flinch when she removed a piece of broken bottle from her side and tossed it aside. The injuries would have sent any one of them to the A & E room and would need several days if not weeks to recover when all she needed to do was wait a few seconds.

“Oh my god, Yara I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” Harry was the first one to speak.

If Yara could blush she probably would at that moment, not used to so much attention.

“I’m fine, no biggie. At least we know revoking works, eh?” she said as lightly as she could, trying to let them know she wasn’t mad and it wasn’t a big deal. She had certainly dealt with worse in her long life as a vampire.

“I’m glad you’re OK Miss Solis. Now boys, get on the bus. We have a long night ahead of us before our next stop. Yara, if you would please stay on your bus for this trip. We’ll set the anti-vampire security and I need to talk with the boys,” Simon stated and Yara obeyed. She gave a quick smile and told them she’d see them at the next city.

All five lads were treated to an hours long lecture on the bus ride from their mentor on proper vampire-bodyguard-human relations etiquette. Pointedly on how not to accidently kill Yara before she got the chance to protect them from her kind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Bit of a lengthier chapter than what I have been posting. Hope you guys enjoy it. Happy Reading.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry was disappointed. 

It wasn’t that Yara wasn’t perfectly lovely, she was. She did her job with the utmost acuity and even managed to stay out of their way. Whenever he brought a girl to the hotel or back onto the bus, she never once grassed on him. She was even cool enough to buy a pack of larger whenever they asked her to. 

She didn’t see the harm in them throwing back a few beers whenever the whim came up. She was everything that a body guard should be. Yara was present, intimidating when she needed to be, and always on alert. She never made her presence felt too much either. Their fans had been weary at first. Part of them glad their boys were getting the protection they needed. The other part had been uncomfortable with such a dangerous person always at their side during night hours. She could very well rip apart anyone she so choose. Some fans thought it was funny. A barely five foot girl who couldn’t weight more than eight stone stood next to their human body guards. She looked like a sprite next to behemoths. But when they were with fans, she made herself scarcer and let them mingle with their admirers. Only once in a while when a vampire fan would approach would she come close enough to make her presence known. They didn’t have any idea the fan was a vampire until Yara stared the undead followers down and the vampires averted their eyes in submission. 

The vampire fans were always cordial and just as excited to see them as their human counter parts. They did always have a bit of a wide eyed stare and Harry had the distinct impression part of them wanted the boys for a meal. He had heard more than once that they smelled amazing and they had all dropped fang at least once.

Yara never had to bare her teeth to the younger vampires. They all instinctively knew that she was much older than them and would not appreciate the newborns taking a bite. Learning from Kristopher’s mistake and probable stern warning of the AVL, their Maker’s were never far behind although they looked none too impressed with the band. Even though the vampires didn’t look like their true age, it was a funny analogous picture to their human fans. The “parents” indulged their “children’s” puppy love but would rather be somewhere else. 

So Ms. Solis did her job and kept them safe from overexcited baby vampires that didn’t know any better. 

His disappointment stemmed from the fact that she was boring. All she did was watch them, play some XboX, and sleep during the day. He was hoping that the DeLuna family would suggest and pay for vampire friendly hotels. There weren’t many in the world but the ones that were erected were all five star accommodations. There was no such thing as a cheap or economic vampire inn. He thought their protector’s safety would be a priority but Yara was content to sleep in a regular hotel room in a sun safe coffin instead of a room with light proof windows or a place that offered blood room service. Their keepers, human and vampire alike, had made it abundantly clear they would not stay anywhere with such a concentrated vampire presence. 

So nothing was going how Harry had hoped. His bodyguard was not introducing them to the world of vampires nor was she making any moves to take his blood “offering,” which he subtly presented every chance he got. 

Harry refused to wear any of the silver given to him around his neck and made it appoint to always keep it bare. He even purposefully nicked himself shaving a few times to get his scent into the air. He knew that she was having a reaction to the smell of blood. She would always tense and her nose would twitch. She then would breathe deeply but instead of taking a bite which he desperately wanted her to do; she would reach for a True Blood or a Pure Royal. 

Zayn would try similar tactics but nothing was working. She was acting like she was just another staff member and their wild fantasies of vampire orgies were quickly dissipating. 

Only Liam and Louis were enjoying the boring Yara. The former had taken to playing FIFA at all hours and honing his game. The latter was more relaxed once he saw that Yara had no ill intentions and showed him that vampires were like everyone else. All she wanted to do was her job and then relax in her off hours. 

Yara wasn’t stupid. She could smell the eagerness and arousal off of Harry and Zayn. Both boys had gotten it into their head that her life was some glamorous all night sex romp with blood. It wasn’t totally their fault. Vampires had spent centuries trying to polish their image and that was even before the Great Revelation. Rice, Meyer, Stoker, and Smith were all under the Authority’s payroll and their efforts had paid off. By the time vampires were revealed to be real, they had a sexy and edgy image that most welcomed and were eager to imitate. 

It did have a few setbacks, however. Most humans were under the impression that they were all tortured souls that needed comfort in their immortality. It also didn’t help that there were huge fanbases for fictional characters that they didn’t want to believe weren’t real. Part of the fiction did help them survive in an ever growing technological world. If anyone became suspicious of their lack of presence in daylight, their fears were quickly assuaged when they had other “proof” they couldn’t be vampires; such as the inability to cross holy ground or running water or their possession of a reflection. Without the help of the writers, vampires wouldn’t have been able to pass as human as easily as they had. 

Now that they were out of the coffin, those same measures of protection had become nuisances. They assumed she was an insatiable creature of the night that would jump on the first chance of offered blood or sex. She didn’t want to admit, even to herself, that some stereotypes were true to a certain extent. She couldn’t forget her first century and how much freedom being undead had warranted her. 

One did not care about social taboos when any judgmental naysayers could easily become snacks. 

So the boys were several centuries too late for her phase of wild sex parties. She did pointedly omitted that several of their undead fans were probably well into the swing of that stage and all they need do was ask the right vampires. Yara wished to keep up the façade that all they wanted was a normal life and anything else were for a few select sects of their population just as it was for humans. 

Harry’s not too subtle approach to tempt her made her wish the Magistrate was still around and he could have dealt with Antonia instead of her Queen. 

Jorje Alonso de San Diego would have probably sentenced the girl to the True Death and chided Kristopher then let the issue go. The former Magister had very little time or patience for the newly born and never would have thought to ever assign a fellow vampire to protect humans, especially one of her years and talents. The Authority would have been pissed but they would have gotten Nan Flannigan to smooth things over in a cinch. 

She was trying to play FIFA with Liam, the only one who had a modicum of sense besides Louis. He never tried to play with fire by enticing her with blood but he also didn’t have the sense to steer clear either. For a human, he was actually an engaging conversationalist; He had a clear grasp of current events and not once did he ever mention a reality TV star or sports player. Liam could admit when he wasn’t well versed in a subject and was an active listener when she explained her point of view. He may not have agreed with everything she said but he didn’t get hostile about his own beliefs. 

Liam enjoyed having intelligent conversations, something he often times lacked with his bandmates. As much as he loved them, the boys were more interested in constantly chasing birds than the impact of Scotland gaining independence from the UK. 

Not that all Yara and he talked about were social issues, she could mess around with the best of them. She was particularly fond of pranks, especially calling them with borrowed voices. She even got them all one time pretending to be radio show hosts and asking them even more brazen questions than anyone had dared to with “Simon” telling them they were contractually obligated to answer or else they would lose out on endorsements. They learned the hard way that one vampire talent was being able to mimic anyone’s voice and such uncomfortable facts about the others that they couldn’t look at each other for days. 

Liam had thought he knew everything to know about his brothers; he was very wrong. 

At one point, Yara had Zayn convinced that Perrie had joined Scientology and if he wanted the relationship to work he would have to: shave his head, get a tattoo of Lord Xenu, give up his worldly possessions, and combine her band (Little Mix) and One Direction into a “Super Mega Pop Group” to lure their young fans to the religion. Their options for names were either “Little Direction” or “One Mix.”

Although Zayn had an open relationship with the pretty blonde, he was devoted enough to considered following through with it. He was both livid and relieved once Yara broke character and collapsed laughing in the adjoining hotel room. 

They had all taken to borrowing someone else’s phone and calling Yara directly every time they got an unknown number. She was quite proud of that fact. 

They were all currently riding on the bus, well after midnight but everyone was too pumped up from the concert. They played an especially energetic show and got to meet a fan with muscular dystrophy. The frail girl had told them that their music helped her keep positive and was their biggest fan. It was fans like her that made what they did so important. Others might scoff and say they were nothing but a boy band singing silly love songs but their fans truly loved them and they touched lives. 

And despite being tired the next day, Liam was trying to sync his rhythm to Yara’s as he could only spend time with her during hours without sunlight. Just being able to talk to someone without ulterior motives or any drama was well worth having to down a few more Redbulls. 

He did wish that Harry and Zayn would quit being such idiots. Anyone with a brain could tell they were trying to get a rise out of their vampire body guard and it wasn’t funny. It’d be one thing if they were just trying to prank her but they were playing a dangerous game. She wasn’t some small Chihuahua that would take a small nip if pushed too far. She was a deadly panther that could literally tear them to smithereens.

Harry was also trying to play video games but with his not to subtle glances and Yara’s ability to smell his curiosity, it was starting to wear on her. 

“Harry, just ask me whatever it is buzzing around in that pretty little mop head of yours,” she finally said, unable to take it any longer.

He tried to play dumb and motioned “Who me?” with his hands and a fake astonished look on his face as if he didn’t know exactly what she was talking about.

“Just ask me whatever stupid and vapid questions I know you have about vampires but are too British to ask.”

The band’s playboy gave a wide heart melting grin that worked so well on his fans as Yara had given him permission to ask the questions he’s been dying to ask since they hired her. Like an excited school boy he scooted closer to his bodyguard and asked away.

“Is it true V makes you have the best sex ever?”

“Well they aren’t draining vampires for nothing. While I don’t know humans personally who have taken it, I have heard many accounts that our blood does have an aphrodisiac effect. And no, I won’t give you any of mine. Nor will I find another vampire willing to do so. And if I find out that you have been able to obtain any, I will give the True Death to whatever vampire supplied it and break your legs. I’ve gotten permission from Simon to do so. And FYI, in America; V is a Schedule I – Class A to you Brits - drug. Meaning your pretty ass and broken legs will be thrown in jail and you’ll become Big Bubba’s newest girlfriend.”

He figured as much but he couldn’t help but be slightly let down that while she didn’t mind buying them a few beers, it was about as far as she would go when it came to getting them illicit substances.

“Do you know which vampire clubs are the best?” he hoped she would be at least willing to help them gain entry to any hotspots.

“None of them. They’re all tourist traps for gullible humans looking for their ‘dark prince.’ They all have the same tacky red and black Goth décor with brainless names playing on the word Fang. And no, I would not set foot in one; I’d rather meet the sun. Nor will I allow you to go to one. I’ve gotten permission from Simon to tie your silly asses up if need be. Smart one, he is.”

Again, Yara was proving most unsatisfactory. Despite her teenage exterior, she was showing to be an actual grown up who was doing all she could – with management approved violence no less – to prevent him from having fun. 

“How old are you?” Zayn joined the conversation. He wasn’t all that adamant about going to clubs as he didn’t dig the Goth feel.

“Can’t quite remember nor do I know how to convert the Aztec Calendar to Gregorian. So when did your people invade my land?”

“What people?”

“The Spaniards.”

“They’re not my people…” Zayn was confused as he was certain everyone knew him to be half Muslim and half British. 

“The Europeans then,” she said flippantly and they all got the distinct feeling she was tossing all of Europe together. 

“The invasion began in 1519,” Niall stated helpfully.

“I was born 17 years before that.”

“So you don’t know your birthday?” Liam asked, a little sad that she couldn’t remember it. But perhaps birthdays lose meaning when one gains immortality. 

“Well we didn’t really celebrate them like you guys do, plus it’s an entirely different Calendar, although ours was the most accurate,” she said the last part with pride. 

“Well the Gregorian calendar did adopt the 365-day year and it’s a reformed version of the Julian. Do you know in which metztli you were born?”

Yara raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised the blond even knew the correct term for her people’s months; as most had adopted the Spanish veintena if they knew anything about the calendar at all. 

“It was either Etzalcualiztli or Tepopochtli…no it was definitely sometime during Etzalcualiztli,” she stated, trying to remember a past long since gone. 

Although he didn’t question it, Niall instinctively knew exactly when she was born and the numbers raced through his quick mind.

“You are 510 years, 18 days, 11 hours, 15 minutes old. Your birthday is on the 27th of May.”

Yara wondered if he had any innate clairvoyancy. She could tell he wasn’t lying and he firmly believed everything he said. There was no way he could know with such certainty as she didn’t even know herself. She wasn’t lying when she said she didn’t remember. With the calendar change and generally not paying attention to the years as they past, she had no idea when she was born or exactly how old she was. She had noticed he had a thing with numbers, brushing off his skill as a mere natural talent but now she wasn’t so sure. 

So she wanted to test her theory.

“Niall, how far have you guys traveled in the US?”

“From Maine to South Carolina, 1,940.869km and counting.”

“How many girls has Harry taken on the bus?”

“7”

“How many hairs on Liam’s head?”

“Hairs or follicles?”

“Hairs.”

“149,265.”

“How many blonds are working on his tour vs. brunettes?”

“53 blondes, 20 of them are unnatural. 125 brunettes, not counting anyone with highlights…”

He droned on about everyone who worked on tour to the very decimal of those who had altered hair colour. Each subsequent question she asked was more and more obscure and he was answering them with uncanny acuteness. It was possible he was making it up but his scent never changed, alerting her to any deceit. It was also possible he merely had arithmomania, the obsessive compulsion to count. If he’s had it his whole life, then the answers he was giving were merely things he had observed and learned to count so quickly that it appeared supernatural.

She had to ask him something that only she would know.

“How many vampires have I killed?”

“27” he answered without hesitation and it took him a minute to fully process what he had just said and what she really asked. Yara had questioned him in quick succession and he hadn’t fully comprehended her inquiries and he had answered just as quickly.

The entire bus was quiet while they processed what Yara had revealed about herself. No vampire had ever admitted they had taken human life and she wasn’t about to be the first one. But she had no issue with revealing she had given the True Death to her own kind. 

Niall had always been their numbers guy. They didn’t think anything of the answers he gave because it was something he had always done. They asked a math question and he was also the one to give an answer. The fact that some of her questions were almost impossible for most humans to know didn’t faze them. Niall knew numbers and that was the end of it.

Yara was notoriously private as all vampires were, so it piqued the boys’ interest when she gave them carte blanche to ask her questions. 

Niall and Harry had brushed the issue to the back of their mind. She was a body guard to Porsia and Catalina’s human family. Of course she would have killed vampires at some point, at least that’s what they told themselves. They ignored the obvious questions of how Niall could know such a thing. The blond knew he had never had such a conversation with Yara to know off hand but that didn’t stop him from disregarding his strange gift. He had dealt with such doubts before and like always, he pushed them into a little box in his mind and buried it deep. He would not go through what he went through as a small child again, whispers all around him from family members and friends. 

He was normal and he would stay that way.

Harry was too thick headed to think any deeper. 

Liam, Zayn, and Louis, on the other hand, were not.

Louis felt a bit better around Yara. She was proving to be more like the girl who he joked around with behind stage than a vampire of his nightmares. He also couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t somewhat relieved to hear that she had killed her own kind and hopefully would be willing to do so again if the situation warranted it. From what he had heard about vampires, their culture was do or die; he didn’t doubt for a second that she was justified in every kill and the more he got to know her, he was positive she didn’t kill for fun or without a good reason. 

Liam also had no doubt she had her reasons for killing her kind and part of him was angry that someone would dare attack her. Even if she was inhumanly strong, she looked so vulnerable and he was confident others tried to take advantage of her. As ridiculous as it sounded, not to mention she would probably kill him herself if he ever voiced it, he wanted nothing more than to protect her. Even though she was a more than able fighter, something in him wanted her to never have to fight. 

Zayn’s blood heated at the thought of her in a fight and coming out victorious. While others might flinch at the thought of bloodshed, he reveled in it. Vampires weren’t just unearthly beautiful and immortal, they were powerful; a power that he respected and wanted to pay tribute to with his body. Yara represented beauty and power, something ancient that pre-dated man and demanded reverence and admiration. Much more than simply singing or anything he had done in his lifetime. He had made up his mind that somehow, someway he would become a vampire. Perhaps not anytime soon as he would not compromise the band but he knew that he was meant to become a vampire. He was meant to become something eternal and magnificent. 

Something inside him stirred, he didn’t want just anyone to make him a vampire. He wanted Yara to grant him immortality. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that she was at their concert the same night another vampire lost control. It seemed as if Fate wanted her on tour with them, wanted her on tour with him. He had dreamt of blood and flesh, dark hair tangled in his hands as she fed from him and she let him feed from her. He loved Perrie, he really did but they were not meant for eternity; Perrie was Ms. Right Now and he had no illusions that his pretty blonde girlfriend felt any differently.

Yara was unaware of the many thoughts zooming through all their heads, blissfully ignorant of how her little tidbit of life before immortality was affecting them. 

“What’s it like being a vampire?” Harry went on, still curious as ever and determined to forget the oddness that just went on.

“I don’t know, what’s it like to be human?” she quipped back while trying to kill grunts as Master Chief, she had switched to Halo during the questioning. She hoped that asking him the same silly and unanswerable question back to him would make him realize he ought to think things through before speaking. 

She was wrong.

“You don’t remember?”

“I’ve been a vampire far longer than I ever was human.”

And that was all she would say about it. After a few more inane questions Harry finally gave up and most of them retired to their bunks.

“Aren’t you going to go to sleep?” Yara asked the remaining Liam. 

While 2AM was nothing to her, she knew that humans needed the hours to sleep; especially if they had been working all day. She vaguely remembered the feeling of exhaustion in her weak human body after a day’s work. 

“Nah, tomorrow we have off. Plenty of time to have a lie in,” Liam shrugged off. 

Yara shrugged her own shoulders, figuring he was old enough – way past adult age in her previous culture – and if he didn’t want to go to sleep she wasn’t going to make him. He could deal with the consequences of not sleeping if he so choose. 

“How did you know Harry wanted to ask you all those questions?” He said after a few rounds of Left 4 Dead, his own interest getting the better of him.

“I could smell it pouring off of him.”

“You can smell curiosity?” he had a hard time believing.

“Question time is over,” she joked gently but didn’t want to get too deep into it with Liam. Unlike his friends, he was vastly more astute. 

“Come on, you let Harry ask whatever he wanted.”

“Harry would only ask stupid questions, you cut to the core.”

He was flattered she thought highly of him but he wanted to get to know her better. He wasn’t going to be deterred from getting closer to her. 

“How about we play a game? I ask you a question, you ask me a question. Whatever you want to know, I’ll be completely honest.”

“You overestimate how interested I am about your life.”

“Ouch, Yara. Ouch.”

She smiled at him to let him know she was mostly kidding but she for the most part had no interest in humans. They weren’t that interesting when she was human and she doubted they had evolved since then. 

Unfortunately for her, she was unable to resist his sad brown eyes. She wondered if he had been in contact with the DeLuna family and figured out her weakness. 

“Fine…I get to ask any question I like and I retain veto power for anything I don’t feel like answering.”

“Brilliant, ladies first?”

“Why are you so sad sometimes?”

He was taken aback by the serious question, figuring they would start off with simple questions like what their favorite colour was and then ease into the more intimate things. 

Liam breathed out heavily and braced himself to answer honestly. He figured if she could smell curiosity then it was logical she could smell other emotions as well. His friends had all bought the façade he put on that he was happy and even keeled after his break up with Dani, for the most part he was but there were some nights he found himself missing her deeply. She was his first love and if he was honest with himself, he still loved her. He probably always would but some days were worse than others. 

“I don’t know if Porsia had filled you in but I have recently split with my girlfriend of three years.”

“So you miss her a lot?”

“More than I probably should by now.”

“I’m not exactly an expert at human emotions or how long they should last but from experience, love has its own timetable.”

It wasn’t what he was expecting from his bodyguard. He had heard plenty of times that there were other women out there but his friends didn’t seem to get that it wasn’t helpful to know that. He didn’t want another woman or even a slew of women. He was happy with Dani; he wasn’t like Harry who went through girls like water or Zayn who was content with stringing Perrie along while he slept with whatever girl caught his attention that night. Louis was still with his girlfriend and Niall had never gotten on with one particular girl. No one in his group understood what he was going through and it was Yara who was the first to empathize that he was still grieving his relationship. She was the first to say that he’d work through it on his own time and that no one could tell him when he should or shouldn’t still feel something. 

It was something so simple but it meant the world to him.

“Have you ever been in love?” he figured since they were diving right in, he might as well sate his curiosity about the dynamics of vampires. 

“You mean the kind of love you sing about? No,” she answered honestly, not seeing a reason to lie about such a thing. “Romantic love is rather a novel concept in terms of history. Marriage had used to be about convenience or strengthening social bonds rather than mutual affection. My own had been decided by my father and I never cared either way.”

“You’ve been married?” he couldn’t hide the astonishment in his voice; she was only 17 in her human life. 

Yara laughed softly at his face, not surprised he was so shocked at her confession. It only highlighted the vastly different lives they lived and how culture had shifted in only a few short decades. Even only sixty or so odd years ago, teen marriages were much more common as society had seen those in their late teens as fully functioning adults. It was only in the last twenty years had they all decided to extend adolescents and consider those even in their early twenties as not full adults. 

“Yep, married when I reached 14. I was considered fully grown by then. I had ‘blossomed’ if you will and my people considered me ready to be married. It was what we did when we reached of age. Even had a couple of children,” she added as an afterthought.

She wasn’t sure why she was telling him all that. She hadn’t spoken of her past life to anyone, even Catalina didn’t know as much. But Liam was the first to really ask and he listened, he didn’t just wait for his turn to talk. 

“Do you still have human family?”

“No, all my children died in their infancy. It was a harsher life then, still is for a lot of them,” she referred to the poorer areas of Mexico that didn’t have the luxury of a hospital and women still gave birth at home.

The thought was jarring to say the least. In the world he lived in, women went to the hospital to have birth and were fine. Only in rare cases did the child die or the mother with it. He had read all about the high infant mortality rate before modern medicine but actually hearing about it from someone to lived through it, he wondered how they all could go on. But he supposed when there was a fifty-fifty chance of dying in child birth; it was something that was seen as normal and nothing to be done about it. 

“Do you worry that Harry or Zayn will do something very stupid to get whatever silly fantasy about vampires they have come true?” she asked, taking her turn.

It was a fair question and it proved to Liam that his friends’ antics have not gone unnoticed. He didn’t want to grass on his friends but he did worry their actions would put them in a situation Simon or Yara wouldn’t be able to save them from. 

“I think they don’t quite understand what they want or what they’re getting into when it comes to vampires,” he said diplomatically. 

“Do you?”

The unspoken suggestion that he was also playing with fire in trying to be friendly with her was not lost on him. 

“I think I have the proper respect and know when to back off.”

“Just goes to show you guys haven’t been around many vampires…and I plan on keeping it that way.”

“What is it that you have against your own kind?”

“It’s hard to have warm fuzzy feelings when you were made against your will.”

And suddenly a lot of her hostility towards vampires was explained. It never occurred to him that someone wouldn’t want to be a vampire. While he knew not to say such things in front of Yara, he could see the appeal of immortality. In a world that all but worshiped youth and he knew that his days as a cute member of a boy band were numbered, especially if he couldn’t transition like his idol Justin Timberlake did. Soon he would be much too old for their tween fanbase and the older girls would move on to more mature and adult men. If he couldn’t keep their attention, he wasn’t sure how much longer his fame would last. There was also an underlying fear of growing older. He liked being young and fit, one day all of that would be gone was almost impossible to imagine. 

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be a teenager for centuries, noticing how sometimes people treated Yara before they found out she was a vampire. Most tended to overlook her or act as if she knew absolutely nothing due to what she looked like; a seventeen year old girl. He thought maybe becoming immortal at twenty-five or about there would be ideal. He would be at his peak and no one would have a reason to doubt him. 

Knowing Yara, being a vampire was not all moonlight and roses. 

“If I were you, I would talk your boys out of their silly quest and I would also suggest you get over whatever romanticized fantasy you have about vampires,” she didn’t have to smell him to know that he had seen the appeal of living young forever. 

“Is it really all that bad?”

She knew she had to choose her words carefully. She couldn’t tell him that being a vampire was the worst thing in the world; not only was it a lie but he wouldn’t believe her regardless and being as young as he was, he was sure to take it as some sort of challenge. She didn’t want him purposefully seeing out vampires just to spite her because she told him not to. 

“Being a vampire isn’t all doom a gloom, I will give you that. I can even see the appeal of not having to fear death. When I was alive, it would have been quite a feat to live until I was thirty. Being immortal does offer a lot more opportunity and freedom but it does have its drawbacks. And I’m not just talking about not being able to stay awake during the day, although that is a pain. But…” she struggled to put what she wanted to say in words. “I mean…I get the appeal. Live young forever. Sounds great but living through it is another story. Sure you can see the world and you have all the time you want to do it in. But there is only so much world to really see and so many experiences to be had. Then you have nothing, nothing but time and no idea how to fill it.”

“What do you mean?”

“The concept of ‘forever’ sounds better on paper than it is in reality. Once you travel and see all the world has to offer; that will take fifty, one hundred years tops before you get bored. If you’re lucky you’ll find a hobby or something to focus on for a couple of decades. If you’re really lucky you can find something you love doing for even a century. But once that’s over, and it’ll go quicker than you ever thought possible, then you’re left standing asking yourself ‘now what?’ Some vampires travel in nests, they fill in the time feeding and fucking until they’ve run that well dry. And they will run it dry because vampires don’t put anything back into the world. They merely drink until there’s nothing left. The nests eventually disband because they’ll turn on each other. It’s inevitable, even if you love someone there is only so long you’ll be able to stand them without some kind of break. What kind of life is that to lead? It’s a continuous cycle of the same life in different places. There’s just this terrifying unending abyss of time in front of you.”

They were both left silent to digest what she had said. She didn’t mean to tell him all of that but she’s glad she did. She hated to give into the stereotype of the tortured vampire who had to deal with eternity alone but that’s what it was really about. When she became a vampire she was left with nothing. Her family and tribe were decimated and even the most stalwart of vampire friends would eventually drift apart. 

Nothing stood against the test of time. Given enough, everything turned to dust. 

Liam fought the urge to lay a comforting hand on Yara or even embracing her in a friendly hug. They had stopped playing their games and everything felt raw and exposed. He had never had anyone be so open and honest with him; he wanted to let her know that everything would be alright. He wasn’t sure how but he was determined to make everything better.

“You really ought to go to bed.”

With that, she dropped her controller and before he could say anything she escaped through the emergency hatch at the top of their bus and he knew she would use her supernatural strength to jump from his bus to hers that followed. It was a system they had developed so she could watch and protect them on their bus and return to hers without stopping the touring motorcade. 

Unbeknownst to the two, even Yara was too caught up with explaining eternity to Liam, Harry had heard the whole story. He was unconvinced that being a vampire was as all grim as his bodyguard had described. 

He and Zayn needed to step up their game to get Yara’s attention. And if she continued to refuse to comply then they’d find another vampire that would.


	7. Chapter 7

There was something different between Yara and Liam, Zayn could sense it and didn’t quite know what it was. For the first several weeks, the vampire had been standoffish. Only loosening up when phone pranking them or getting into other mischief. His cheeks still enflamed when thinking what he had been willing to do to save his relationship with Perrie. Their bodyguard had otherwise kept to herself and was a mere ghost in their lives.

Now it seemed as if she had finally relaxed and it had something to do with their doe-eyed crooner. There was something going on, he could tell by their body language. Liam was much more open to her than he had been before. It was as if his body always gravitated to face wherever she was. She seemed more physically open to him as well. Something had happened that night on the bus they played the question game and he wondered if he should have stayed up just a bit longer.

Zayn couldn’t help but feel put out because Liam was accomplishing what he and Harry were having the hardest time with: getting close to Yara. His bandmate was even allowed to place a hand on her shoulder as they huddled over a game on her phone, trying to get past an impossible level on Candy Crush. It was a small gesture but something that spoke volumes as vampires, including Yara, were notorious for not wanting human contact unless they initiated it.

Normally he didn’t care or even noticed if one of his brothers scored with a female he liked but there was something grating about how Liam chuckled when Yara said something funny. There was something unnatural and irritating about the two of them snickering, together and lighter than he had seen his mate in several months.

Liam hadn’t been that happy since…

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered darkly to himself as he realized what was going on. The two had a THING happening and were keeping it a secret. He focused on Liam’s neck to see if she had fed from him and didn’t see any tell-tale puncture marks. He wondered if she was feeding from somewhere else and his jealousy grew exponentially as he thought of the more intimate places she could draw his blood from that wouldn’t be visible in everyday circumstances.

What was so special about Liam?

He wracked his brain trying to figure out when they could even get alone time together and all those late nights Liam stayed up to “play XboX” were coming into focus. The Wolverhampton native had been downing energy drink after energy shot the past couple of weeks, always preferring to stay up rather than get needed sleep. He wondered if Liam was also suffering from anemia, visions of Yara’s perfect fangs piercing flesh dancing through his head.

The two were even being cutesy, something he thought impossible of their vampire bodyguard. The duo had taken to playing the question game. One would ask a question and the other would answer whenever they had some free time away from unfriendly ears. They ranged from simple things like favorite colour to the rather intimate such as favorite sexual position. With an evil glint in her eyes, she unabashedly admitted that she liked to use her vampiric strength to make love against the ceiling. She then proceeded to call Liam boring for the limited positions humans could accomplish. He wasn’t embarrassed though; he threw her snark right back and upped the ante by not so subtly and flirtatiously quipping that he would need to expand his experiences.

Yara had even taken to showing off some of her powers; they had learned that she was quite fast, even for a vampire. On an off night, they had visited a racetrack and she had ran against a Maserati and won.

It delighted Niall to no end as he was able to play with all the numbers and physics of how she could accomplish such a feat.

Harry had taken playing the question game as well although it was clear to everyone else that she preferred to talk with Liam. Her succinct answers and lack of patience did not deter him but he wished he knew the secret of getting on her good side.

They found out that Yara didn’t know how to glamour, a typical trait debated about on international news.

While irritating, her games with Liam were proving enlightening.

“Glamouring is something that is taught and I never was,” she shrugged when they asked why should couldn’t do it. She didn’t expound upon the explanation but Liam knew it had something do with her Maker, a subject she refused to talk about even during their many late night conversations. He supposed she wasn’t inclined to learn anything from the man who turned her without her consent.

Yara thought that hypnotism was an overrated power that her kind too often relied upon. It was different decades ago when they could easily sneak to some hidden alleyway with no one the wiser. These days with security cameras on every block and every wanker with a camera phone, they had to go even more hidden to secret clubs with expanded bathroom stalls to feed; even then there was no guarantee a human hadn’t caught their exploits on film. There were also humans stalking around with video camcorders purposefully trying to get footage of vampires feeding. They were not above setting bait and waiting for the first foolish vampire to come their way.

There were strict laws about vampires feeding on humans and anyone caught on camera was given the True Death by the Authority, before any human law could get a hold of them with the film destroyed.

Although some did not see it so, the arrival of synthetic blood and the Great Revelation was their saving grace. Yara had no doubt technology would have outed their kind sooner or later and humanity would have reacted poorly to finding out about vampires from seeing a feeding on TV opposed to their voluntary admission. At least with coming forward, vampires had controlled what humans were told and the face seen; humans didn’t see the bloodstained fanged mouth, fresh from a kill. The humans first saw the innocuous vampire small business owner who wanted nothing more than to pay his taxes and live the American Dream. The Authority and AVL literally found the most benign looking vampire they could and put him in front of the camera.

Although most literature and film depicted turning as perfecting every flaw the human had and leaving the epitome of beauty, the truth was that they remained as the day they died. Vampires tended to only embrace the attractive but every so often, either the human had some undefinable quality that charmed their maker or the human had enough wealth to buy immortality. The latter never fared too well because the vampire who made them abandoned them as soon as their Maker had the gold in their hands.

Very few vampires lived beyond their first year back then. Having to feed daily on a limited amount of humans without raising suspicion was harder then it looked.  Only with the advent of True Blood had so many newborns survived in their history.

Yara was the rare vampire who had not only survived without her Maker but flourished. She wasn’t one of the fastest vampires in existence for nothing. If she couldn’t outrun her enemies, she probably would have met the True Death as soon as she came across another vampire.

Her vampire brother and sisters were not happy she was the last of their sire’s children and she refused to tell them what happened to him. They didn’t believe her when she said he had abandoned her as they knew he was too possessive of all his things, including any vampires he made, to merely leave them helpless.

“Are you alright Yara?” Liam asked, concerned when it seemed that his bodyguard and friend wasn’t as loquacious as he had grown accustomed to in the past weeks. “You seemed far away.”

She shook her head, berating herself for getting lost in the past. A place she swore to never dwell upon.

“It’s nothing,” she assured him and smiled for good measure. While she had a certain weakness for big eyes that begged to get their way, Liam had no defense against her smile. Even though he knew deep in his heart that she was remembering something unpleasant, her smile chased away his concern and he let her be.

There was nothing more in the world that he wanted than her smiling at him.

Yes, there was something growing between the two and Zayn wasn’t the only one that notice. He was, however, the only one who wouldn’t give up on pursuing what he wanted with Yara.

Harry, on the other hand, was growing impatient and felt that his bodyguard was an undead end. If she wasn’t willing to take his perfectly warm and probably sensuous blood then so be it.

There were plenty of other vampires, younger ones who undoubtedly knew how to have a good time and could appreciate what a delectable little treat he’d be.

He was done waiting for Yara; it was time to do a little hunting of his own.

Yara could not believe how incredibly stupid Harry turned out to be. If he were born at any other time in history, he would have died a long time ago being as reckless as he was. She was certain that some famer’s daughter would have been despoiled and he’d be on the wrong end of a pitch fork. He definitely had some sort of death wish. The only reason why he was alive today was that many people had a monetary investment in his continued breathing and did all they could to make sure he didn’t see his final days.

His current stupidity had his attention stray from her and his sights set on whatever vampire fan would have him.

Luckily, she was vastly smarter than him and centuries older than any of their fans; human and vampire alike.

He thought he was clever when they had nights off and she technically wasn’t on call to babysit him. A clause in their contracts specifically stated that they are allowed time away from her and that they would bear all responsibility of what happened to them outside her presence.

What he and the others didn’t know was that she didn’t need to by physically around them in order to protect them and ward off any wayward newbornes. She didn’t want to have to go as far as formally claiming any of them but she did what was necessary to save them from themselves.

While Harry slept off a night of drinking with his mates, she slipped a few drops of her blood in his mouth. She had done it for Niall as well since he was the one the undead fans were most attracted to. Neither was wise to what she had done and brushed off their lack of hangover as testament to their manhood.

The younger vampires could sense her essence in both of them and as soon as they got close enough, their attraction abated and their natural instincts would prevent them from touching what belonged to another.

Not touching another’s human was one of the first thing a vampire learned less they want to find themselves fangless and bound in silver.

Harry was confused and didn’t know where all his charm went. It was one thing when Yara went all scary “I’m older than you and will rip you in half if you don’t back off” mode, he could blame it on how frightening his bodyguard could be. When the birds backed off when she was nowhere in sight, it was enough to think he smelled bad or was somehow repugnant to vampires.

It was the fifth attempt at getting a vampire fan to go to his hotel room before he finally had the nerve to ask what the matter was.

“You don’t know?” the pretty brunette with sky blue eyes, wide with confusion. How could he not know?

“Know what?” he kept his voice light, not wanting to betray his growing frustration. He needed answers to questions he apparently didn’t know he needed to ask.

“You’re claimed…you and Niall.”

“Claimed?”

“Yes…” the vampire was young and in love with the long haired singer but she knew better than to say much else. She already knew she had said too much and her new instincts were ringing clear; she was not to touch the boy in front of her nor was she to lay one finger on Niall. She was more than happy to accept his undivided attention and leave it at that.

“Claimed by who?” he pressed but he could already guess.

The fan avoided his gaze and had a guilty look about her. She looked from side to side and bit her lip, unsure of how to explain it to him without getting in trouble.

“Yara Solis, everyone from coast to coast knows that you’re under her protection and she’s made it very clear she doesn’t want any vampire to…touch you or Niall,” she said lamely, hoping he’d drop the subject. She especially hoped he didn’t ask how he could have been claimed because it was obvious from him ignorance that he had no idea, so that meant the older vampire must have tricked him into taking her blood. It wasn’t unheard of in their society and the girl knew under no circumstance could she tell him. It was forbidden to talk about their ways to humans unless the humans in question were pets and even then it was preferred the humans be kept ignorant.

She didn’t understand why Ms. Solis had chosen to claim only two of them without their knowledge and she wasn’t about to push fate and try to find out. As tempted as Harry’s blood was, and Niall’s outright sang to her – no pun intended – she was determined to live out her immortality. She didn’t escape her hellish life as a human and embrace eternity for nothing. She also wasn’t about to be chained in silver and locked in a box for him either.

“Just me and Niall?”

“As far as I can tell.”

Harry would have pressed for more questions but his mind was a cloud of rage, all directed at their petite immortal bodyguard.

Yara could smell the fury coming off Harry before she heard him enter the bus. The others had trickled in from their nights off, all spending time doing whatever they wanted with their freedom.

Liam and she decided to venture out into the city and not be cooped up playing Madden all night. Yara had pointedly ignored all ribbing from Louis and others that said it was a date. Liam had disregarded them as well but he wouldn’t have minded if she had used the term to describe their little outing.

There was a vampire friendly amusement park in Toronto. They were on the second leg of their North American tour and would be swinging back to the States in a couple of days. America’s northern brother was a bit more tolerant and there were more options to those who wanted to be out until the sun came up but not exactly a club goer.

It was the most fun he had in ages. There rides were vastly more thrilling at night than they were during the day. Many of the coasters were so high that he couldn’t see the bottom, it was almost as if he were descending into an unknown abyss at great speeds. Even Yara yelped in excitement and fear when they whipped around the tracks.

“I’m surprised the big bad vampire would enjoy roller coasters,” he commented after a few rounds on the park’s premier rides.

“Why? Because I can heal quickly and I shouldn’t be afraid and thrilled?”

He shook his head and gave her a joking look that said “obviously.”

She playfully punched him in the shoulder for being cheeky and explained,

“Just because I can heal doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. So yes, I am quite afraid of falling from great heights without the ability to fly and not ashamed of it.”

“Fair enough,” he conceded. It was nice to know that even vampires were afraid of some things.

He felt particularly relaxed because all of his fanbase was generally too young to be out so late and the vampire patrons didn’t care who he was. There were some humans enjoying the park and he was grateful proprietors catered to both. He was enjoying a hot soft pretzel and she a True Blood. He couldn’t get enough of how normal he felt around her, among other feelings, and he appreciated that he was just regular Liam and not “Liam from One Direction.” He loved his fans and loved his job but like with every other kind of work, he needed a break and just take a breather. He felt real for the first time in years. He wasn’t the airbrushed and perfectly coiffed singer put on a pedestal, whose fans would turn on him as soon as he proved himself to be anything but the perfect future husband and lover they all built in their minds. Although he was flattered at first by the attention and that he could cause such a fantasy in girls, it was hard to try to live up to that perfect image constantly and be berated at a moment’s notice when he proved to be human.

Yara eyed his food oddly and watched him eat, to say the least it made him a bit insecure because he had no idea what was going through her mind to make her look at him like that.

“What?” he asked as he took another bite, enjoying the salty treat.

“Humans and their foods befuddle me,” she admitted.

“Befuddle you?”

“Yes, what you eat I find strange.”

“What’s so strange about a pretzel?”

“The pretzel itself isn’t the problem, it’s all the junk humans add to their food to make it last as long as it does. I can smell the preservatives from here.”

“Mmmmm sodium bisulfite,” he bit into his preservative enhanced food defiantly. He had heard enough about preservatives in his lifetime and as an adult he chose not to care and enjoy his food. He didn’t eat it all the time and junk once in a while he didn’t see the problem with.

“You can’t talk too much, that blood you’re enjoying is chalk full of warfarin and other stuff to preserve and anti-coagulate.”

“Touché”

While Liam fiddled between eating his snack and looking at the map to see where else they could go, she studied him. While most humans masticating disgusted her, something the way about Liam did it was…endearing. She liked the way chewing made his jaw move and it brought attention to his birthmark on his throat.

Most vampires looking at throats only had one thing on their mind but with Liam, she couldn’t help but think that the mark was particularly charming. Most would think of it as a blemish but because it was a part of Liam, its Liam-ness made her stare at him longer than was polite but thankfully he was too entranced in searching for their next ride to notice.

Luckily either way she was a pro at masking any emotional toil building in her at her more disturbing thoughts.

She would need to talk with her Queen to seeing about werewolf bodyguards as opposed to her. She didn’t like where her thoughts were headed and getting close to humans was always a bad idea. She never understood why her kind would bother but she was starting to realize why they had such a hard time refraining.

Liam made it all too easy to pretend she was still alive and they were just hanging out and possibly budding into more. She often wondered what it would have been like if she were born five hundred years later and still human.

She could see herself as an older One Direction fan.

So when Harry came to the bus incensed, it was a welcome distraction from her burgeoning feelings.

“What have you done?!” the Brit asked, actually shouting which jarred the other occupants of the bus.

She betrayed no emotion while she tried to figure out what he was talking about. She didn’t recall any pranks she had set in motion recently and certainly nothing to warrant such a response.

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” she said in a dead pan voice, refusing to be bothered.

“Claiming me, does that ring any bells?”

“Ah, that. Yes, yes I did.”

While she still remained stoic as ever, she was increasingly annoyed that a) he was obviously putting moves on vampires after repeated warnings from herself, Simon, his managers, and every other person of authority in his life and b) said idiot vampire had alerted him to what she had done. That meant he had probably cornered some poor little new borne with more hormones than sense into a situation he could have easily died from. Any newly created had trouble controlling themselves around freely offered fresh blood, adding in puppy love it was a recipe for disaster. The last thing she needed was a freshly created childe to accidently drink too deeply and come up with the brilliant idea of trying to turn Harry to save his life. Or more likely, the undead fan being so infatuated with the singer that they wanted to force a permanent bond and turn him regardless the situation; wanting to preserve him at the swoon-worthy and adorably age of nineteen. Most newborns weren’t capable of turning others and their Makers didn’t teach them how to do it in the first couple decades. The Maker/Childe bond was an almost indissoluble tie and neither had the urge to create more progeny for many years.

Yara had seen the utter horror of unsuccessful turnings and she wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Mercifully her claim on Harry was enough to deter any feeding but in his attempt to seduce, the vampire had revealed something Yara very much wish had been kept hidden.

Louis was confused and Niall remained silent as information was pouring into his brain before any questions could even be thought. He had the right of mind to keep mum but something strange was happening. There were empty spots of information, something he had never encountered before and it all had to do with Yara.

Zayn felt a rush of envy as it seemed another one of his band mates had caught her attention and it wasn’t him.

“ _Why would Yara claim him and not me? Or had she claimed all of us?_ ” he asked himself, hoping it was the case.

“Why would you do that?” he barked out. He knew it had to have happened a while ago as this wasn’t his first night attempted to get with a vampire. It was just the first night one of them told him what was going on.

He wasn’t the only one, as similar thoughts ran through Liam’s head as well. He figured if she were to get possessive over any of them, it should be him.

A slow creeping fear invaded him and he wondered if all she saw him was a silly human friend and nothing more. He was discovering that he didn’t like that idea one bit, not at all.

Yara figured the best way to handle the situation was with half truths.

“Because I’m employed with protecting you from my kind. That includes protecting yourselves from your own stupidity. So I claimed you and no vampire in their right mind will touch you, which I can only assume you were attempting tonight.”

“That is none of your business Yara,” Harry said coldly, fed up with her high handed approached. He respected her right to reject his advances but he wouldn’t put up with her interfering with his life in such a way. Part of him hoped that her actions were spurred on by jealousy and that she would figure out that all she need do is admit she wanted him and he’d be more than happy to give. But she couldn’t get away with not accepting him and refusing to let others take up his offer.

“Normally I would agree and if given the choice I would very much not care; I believe in letting Darwinism take its course and let you have whatever vapid vampire bimbo that would have you but, and please pay close attention to what I’m about to say next; not everything revolves around you Harry.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I’m not claiming you just to bust your balls or ruin your fun. You really don’t seem to get that vampires equal danger. They don’t want to be your girlfriend or marry you and have your little brats. They want sink their fangs into your throat…”

“So what? What business is that of yours? If I’m willing and they’re…”

“I’m sure they’ll all very eager but what you fail to realize is that they have **no control**.” She really hoped that stressing the point home would finally get through to him. “These are baby vamps who have probably been feeding off of True Blood or some of the cheap stuff since being made. I’m going to let you in on a little secret that no one wants to admit: synthetic blood tastes like shit. There. You heard it here first. Compared to the real thing, synthetic is garbage. One taste of the real stuff and you can probably kiss your life goodbye.”

“And…” she went on before he had the chance to retort or ask questions, “You are part of a band. What you do reflects on the others whether you think it does or not. Cavorting with vampires is not only dangerous but it’s bad for your image.”

“Oh so it’s not ok for me to have a little fun in the privacy of my own hotel room but it’s ok for you and Liam to make moon eyes at each in public?”

Liam froze at the accusation and felt like he had been caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to. Yara was able to keep her façade of cool unattachment but if her heart still worked it would have stopped and if she could blush she’d be crimson.

It was worse than she thought, not only was she feeling things for Liam but it was apparent to others as well.

That was…alarming to say the least.

Harry took advantage of Yara’s speechlessness and pressed on.

“Yes, let’s talk about your own ‘cavorting’ shall we? Guess what popped up on my Twitter and Tumblr feeds? Everyone talking about what a cute couple Yara and Liam is. Guess what cute nickname Perez Hilton gave you two? It’s Lira. So before you lecture me on trying to have a little fun, why don’t you and Liam keep it in your pants and stay out of mine.”

“That’s enough,” Liam ground out, hearing enough. Liam saw what Harry was talking about as the green eyed member showed his phone and brought up the pictures he was talking about, apparently there were at least a few fans at the theme park that night and saw Liam and Yara  together.

Although to some it might appear that they’re just two people having a nice evening out, Liam couldn’t dismiss the shine in his eyes and the way he looked and smiled at her in those photos. He could easily see why people might think there was more going on.

Neither could Yara and she was caught in her faulty reasoning and hypocrisy. She couldn’t denounce the photos and she also had a hard time denying Harry’s accusations, much to her horror and annoyance.

“Answer me this, Yara. Why in bloody hell did you claim Niall too? What is it about me and him that you went as far as ‘claiming us’, whatever that means.”

For the first time Yara’s ice cold composure cracked and she promised herself to find whatever vampire that grassed on her and let the newborn taste silver. Her jaw tensed and the scowl she sported alerted them to her displeasure better than words could ever say.

Niall was confused as well and again, answers were not forth coming. Instead of innately knowing the answer, all he got were images of bright glowing light; which left him more confused than ever.

“Well you’re too stubborn for your own good and Niall is the most popular one of the group. Of the five, you two were the only ones who needed claiming,” she finally spout out.

She wasn’t lying; Niall was the most popular one of the group…for vampires…because of his blood. Things they didn’t need to know and thankfully the other vampire had not revealed.

“I don’t want your protection. So undo this claim or whatever it is…and I revoke your invitation to this bus.”

Thankfully the vehicle had not left yet, the driver afraid of the outcome of the possible fight between his charge and their bodyguard.

Yara was expecting to be disinvited at some point but she didn’t think it would be from Harry. She was not surprised and she didn’t fight it. Unlike last time, she was prepared and let the magical force that kept vampires away from human domiciles gently push her out of the bus, all the while scowling at the floppy haired singer.

Once she was off the premises, she stalked to her own bus and specifically told her driver to not let anyone on.

She had a lot to think about.

Liam wasn’t sure what all had happened but the normally even tempered brunette was very unhappy with his brother.

“What the bleedin’ hell was that?”

Harry visibly flinched, unsure how to handle an angry Liam. The other brunette had never raised his voice before, even when he stepped on his brother’s broken toes he never got more than a few hurt sounds and that was it.

“You don’t know what happened mate. _She’s_ the one out of order.”

Liam knew he shouldn’t take sides, especially when he didn’t know what happened. He only had part of the story and he owed it to his brother to at least hear Harry out.

“Fine, what happened?”

“I’m talking to this vampire bird, really fit; I’m not surprised she was turned. Someone like her needs to be preserved for all eternity…”

“Harry, focus.”

“Right. So I’m trying to pull her and bring her back to the hotel room while we still have it for the night, and she says that she can’t. She totally wanted to but she can’t because **Yara** has ‘claimed’ me and Niall. She said that no vampire will touch us.”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“Ughhh…not you too. So only you can hang out with vampires, is that it?” it was clear that Harry was frustrated and didn’t understand why everyone was trying to control his life.

“That’s not it at all…”

“No, it’s just that you and Yara can go on your little dates and flirt all you want because **apparently** she’s the only vampire in the **entire world** that has any control. While she treats the rest of us like children and tells us who we can and cannot spend time with.”

Liam controlled his temper and would not allow Harry’s sarcasm to get to him. He could logically see Harry’s point; it didn’t seem fair that they were grown men in the eyes of every countries’ law but there were people telling them who they could and could not see. It wasn’t fair and wasn’t right but he could also see the necessity.

He was certain Yara’s warning weren’t mere lip service. He could still remember all too clearly Antonia’s fangs and how much she wanted to sink them in each of their necks. He also would agree that the undead girl wasn’t all there mentally.

“First off, we’re just hanging out; they aren’t dates…”

Harry sneered in derision and rolled his eyes at Liam’s lame attempt at deflecting and denying what they could all clearly see.

“ **Secondly** ,” Liam continued, refusing to discuss the subject any further. “Yara is over five hundred years old **and** a vampire. Don’t you think she knows vampires, especially newborn vampires, more than you? What possible reason would she have otherwise to keeping them away?”

“Maybe she likes me and doesn’t want to share,” Harry retorted challengingly.

Liam subtly bristled at his friend’s insinuation and subconsciously stood taller and squared his shoulders; moving closer to Harry in an unspoken challenge.

“She did claim me, after all,” he added in, rubbing in the fact that while he didn’t know Yara’s intentions no one could dispute the possessive nature of what she had done. He did it to bother Liam and it was clearly working.

As much as Liam was starting to care for their bodyguard, he wouldn’t do something rash. Although they were clearly in a strop, he loved Harry like a brother. They might not get along all the time but he would never raise a fist over a girl even though he was more tempted than ever to do so.

“I think we all need to cool down and get some rest. We’ll see what management has to say about all this and clear this misunderstanding tomorrow,” Liam finally gruffed out and went to his bed.

“Fine, whatever,” Harry agreed and went straight to his bunk.

They could cut the tension on the bus with a butter knife and the other boys had no idea what to do. They had never encountered such an issue before and wondered how they’d make it better.

They all retired to their sleep quarters, their traveling troupe finally going once they figured out there wouldn’t be a major fight.

Niall was wide awake, wondering what was happening to his happy little second family as they drove through the night to the next town.

Other things plagued his mind that night. Mostly what it meant to be claimed by a vampire and why in the hell he didn’t know about it. His normal talent of intuitively knowing something was failing him for the first time ever and he didn’t like it at all.

He had so many unanswered questions and his only recourse would be to talk to the vampire at the center of his family’s little drama.

 


	8. Chapter 8

The tension from their spat had not dissipated the next day or even the next several days. Liam was growing more frustrated when not only Harry wouldn’t talk to him but Yara had gone back to being completely professional and would barely acknowledge his existence.

Even her attire was closing herself off from him. She had originally gone fairly casual: jeans and a tank top; her hair let loose or pinned with a flowered clip. Now she was head to toe in tactical black and her hair in a severe French braid, not a curly hair out of place. She no longer smiled and only gave one word answers when speaking to any of them.

He had tried several times to talk to her and she brushed him off at every turn. It didn’t help that after a couple of days, their bodyguard crew grew by three.

The massive men that become part of their team gave him an odd feeling, thinking there was something off about them. Sure there were probably plenty of men who dedicated their life to body building and could attain their physique but there was more to it. The three walked with a predatory grace that reminded him of Yara. They were also eerily light footed despite their size; the three often would sneak up on the band and if they wanted could take them out cold. If he didn’t know better, seeing them in daylight himself, he would think they were vampires.

Liam swore that she was purposefully starting to sever all ties to him, distancing herself and pretending that nothing was going on between them.

His suspicions were affirmed when a childhood crush showed up on tour with a made up position.

On any other occasion, he probably would have thanked his stars to have another chance with Sophia Smith. The girl he had yearned for before he became famous, the one that got away. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, even more so with maturity. She was no longer the pretty girl with dark hair and wide eyes. She was now an amazing woman with many years of beauty ahead of her.

He remember back when he first started X-Factor the second time around. How he dreamed of stardom and what he could do with his life. He imagined singing at all the major arenas and stadiums, every talk show that would want to know everything about him, a house that was his from top to bottom, and he even had the odd fantasy of finally impressing the girl he was so fond of.

Some of the songs he sang, he sang with a sincere heart. To say such pretty things to the girl who wouldn’t otherwise notice him. Wasn’t it the wish of everyone who had unrequited love? To have the chance to prove that they are indeed worthy of their love.

As his dreams became reality and he fell in love with Dani, Sophia had faded from those reveries but never forgotten.

Now she was in his life again and it was possible he could literally have everything he had ever wanted but he knew how empty getting everything he ever wished for could be. He was on the cusp of having everything he wanted…

…but nothing he needed. The fantasy of Sophia was an echo of his past, something he could look back on with fondness but his heart was with someone else.

Someone else with dark curly hair and an aversion to sunlight.

* * *

 

Zevi flew across the gymnasium and crashed into the padded wall, the impact crumbled the concrete. For an ordinary man it would have crushed his spine and his chest would have collapsed from the kick Yara had landed on him.

But being a werewolf had its perks, one being especially resilient; even to the strength of vampires.

Although words still could cut like a knife and go down to the bone.

“You three are the best weres my queen could find?” Yara asked with derision, unimpressed with the three werewolves Catalina had sent over at her request.

All Zevi could do was cough up some blood while his healing factor worked.

“Hey, words hurt you know,” Connor said as he held his fists up, knowing the sparing match wasn’t over.

He understood the need to practice but he did think it was unfair to be matched with a vampire with over a hundred years of multiple martial arts under her belt. While he bristled at the thought of admitting a vampire could get the best of him but he could give credit where credit was due. He knew that Yara was not only skilled in combat but quicker than any vampire he had come across in all his years as a bodyguard.

The vampire wasn’t even a blur she was so quick. If he thought it possible, he would say she was even teleporting or using some other means to get from place to place. He could believe it, vampires were especially secretive of their powers; even with coming out to humans they never fully disclosed what they could do. Not even the Supe community, from amaroks to zombies, fully knew everything there was to know about vampires.

He didn’t think too much about it when instead of responding Yara simple lifted him over her head and threw him to the ground, the wood splintering like down feathers that settled on her.

The Queen of DC/VA/MD would have quite the repair bill after they were done.

Although she was sneering down at him, Ulric tried to get the surprise on her by sneaking up on her while she dealt with Connor.

He couldn’t.

Yara easily overpowered him and threw him from the back and held him in front of her, a knife he didn’t know where it came from. He found himself with the blade, silver of course, precariously against his throat, the metal moving in time to his rapid heartbeat.

“You three are pathetic,” Yara opined, letting Ulric go and gave the three time to recover before she brought another onslaught.

“Come on Yar, you know no other vampire is going to be as hardcore as you. I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to fend off some baby vampers from the ‘oh-so-precious’ One Direction.”

Ulric found himself on his back and the same knife that was just at his throat was now millimeters from his eyes. He couldn’t even blink for fear the blade would slice the delicate skin.

“You are not to question the importance of protecting those five boys. You will do all you can to protect them from **all** Supes, even laying down your own wretched life. Understood?”

All Ulric could do was swallow hard, Yara heard his heart pound within his chest and felt her point was made. She eased up and he nodded his acquiescence.

“You are all paid to protect those boys regardless of your feelings, not that anyone cares about them in the first place. If you think you are above the obscene amount my Queen is giving you despite your lack luster skills, please let me know now. I’m sure we can find other hideously muscled weres with subpar combatants to take your place,” she told the three wolves harshly, she was in no mood to put up with less than 100% of their commitment.

“OK, Yara. We call uncle. We’ll protect their pretty faces for all the tweens all over the globe,” Zevi joked, his chest finally mended.

The next second he found himself catching the knife she was previously threatening Ulric with both hands clasped as if in prayer but not without injury as blood started to trickle down hands from where the blade nicked him.

Although it was an impressive feat, Yara didn’t give any indication other than a raised eyebrow and saying,

“I guess **you** aren’t totally useless.”

“High praise from the indomitable Ms. Solis,” Connor quipped.

The four continued the training until she was happy with their competency.

It wasn’t the first time they had their asses handed to them by the petite vampire but they had noticed her attacks had a particular vitriol to them.

“Damn, Yara. Who spit in your True Blood this evening?” Connor said as they drove back to the hotel and he tried to stretch out his sore muscles.

She merely rolled her eyes and refused to answer him.

Zevi had a sparkle in his eye and he gleefully talked about the juicy gossip he had heard from some of the Queen’s underlings.

“I think it has something to do with the cutie with the buzzcut.”

Again, Yara didn’t answer but the weres could sense her tensing up with irritation.

“Yes, apparently we aren’t the only recent hires. There is a Ms. Smith that joined the ranks of the tour…apparently a past paramour of Liam,” Ulric chimed in.

“Who told you guys?” Yara, obviously aware that someone had spread a rumor about her and the three knew of her…troubles.

“The Queen of course,” Connor replied.

“That gossipy bitch.”

Yara should have known.

“Anyway, is that why you’re all out of sorts? Your plan to get lover boy off your scent work a little too well?”

“Shut up.”

“Well if it makes you feel any better, you’re way prettier than she is.”

“The fact that you think I’m that shallow means I wasn’t nearly as hard on you as I should have been. Tomorrow night we practice with live silver nitrate rounds.”

Although the three werewolves should have been shuddering in fear they couldn’t help but snicker like school girls with the latest scandal. Yara didn’t deny that she was responsible for Sophia’s placement on tour and that her plan to get Liam with the girl bothered her more than she let on. She refused to either confirm or deny as even talking about it was beneath her.

The three idiot wolves snickered amongst themselves in the back and Yara smoldered in the front.

She knew it was for the best. Liam had told her about Sophia so she took that to mean that he still had feelings for the girl he left behind. Perhaps it was fate; she needed a distraction and Sophia needed a job. The girl also turned out to have had a crush on Liam when they were in school together. The issue was that both were too shy to do anything about it.

She, perhaps, was placed by Providence to set the two back on the same path.

The idea made her almost roll her eyes out of her head and if she had less control she would have gagged at the sheer triteness of it all.

Still, she knew it was what needed to be done and she would swallow down any bitterness she felt when she saw them together.

She had foolishly let Liam lull her into believing that she could have a normal life, something she had yearned for ever since turning. A husband and children were not for her and they never would be; but that did not mean family life was not for Liam. He deserved more than anything she could offer and she would make sure he got it.

She would not look for any indication that he was merely politely accepting Sophia’s attention. She would not tell herself that his eyes did not shine as they did when he was with her. And she would not purposefully smell the air to see if “love was in the air.” She was over five hundred and faced every Supe in a showdown to the death and never had she been as afraid of an answer as to the question of Liam’s interest in his school yard crush.

Although she hated to know the answer, she would not do anything to stop it either.

She made her coffin and she’d lie in it.

* * *

 

If Liam were American, he probably could have thrown a fit and demanded Yara stop avoiding him and talk. He would have done as he had seen in countless teen rom-coms where he’d barge his way in and wouldn’t budge until the girl in question would acknowledge his existence.

But he wasn’t American; he was English and never would think of doing such a thing even though at the moment he could see the appeal of it; especially with all the polite routes not making any leeway.

Well in British fashion, if he couldn’t do it the polite way he would do it the underhanded way.

* * *

 

How in the world the schedule got as mucked up as it had, Yara wouldn’t be able to figure out. The management thought they were supposed to be the arena for a practice, the musicians thought they had the night off so off so they couldn’t run any songs, and the security crew was sent to the wrong arena with the boys. She herself was given orders to stay at the hotel as there were reports that vampires have been bribing the wait staff for copies of the boys’ keycards. It was most disturbing since hotels did not have the protection of homes so any vampire could break into their rooms.

Ulric, Zevi, and Connor could handle the fans well enough and she believed the boys were in good hands. She had made her rounds to the staff, from the manager to the lowliest kitchen cleaner; they all had the fear of God put into them and would not allow an unknown vampire into the hotel without her knowing about it. She made her way through their rooms and while disgusted by Louis’s slovenliness nothing seemed out of order. She saved Liam’s room for last, unsure if she could handle the sight of another woman’s clothes on his floor or the scent of their coupling in the air.

She hated how he’s seemed to reduce a proud vampire with no belief in monogamy to a sniveling scared teenage girl who couldn’t deal with reality. Although her vampirism made her immune to pretty much every disease, only known virus to affect them was Hep D, she seemed to have odd stomach problems. Her midsection always tied into knots and cramped up when thinking of Sophia and Liam together; she only felt better when she thought of the life they could have together. Something she could never offer him; a full human life with children and only one lifetime to fill. The pain went from her stomach to her heart, a dull constant ache that threatened to make her want to tear it out.

As much as she didn’t like him with someone else, she cared enough about him to let him go and live the life he was supposed to have. A life he deserved, no one should be sentenced to a world of eternal darkness.

She took a deep breath and reminded herself that she had a job to do and that was to make sure the boys were all fine. She had gotten a text from Ulric saying all of them were having a night out as to not waste the opportunity. Yara only hoped that they wouldn’t somehow figure out a way to kill themselves. The last thing she needed was to prove to the Queen that the three weres were incompetent and only a vampire could properly protect them.

She hoped that at some point, the three wolves would prove her services were unneeded. Although the average werewolf was not as strong as a vampire, the three could at least hold their own against her and had the added advantage of being able to be seen in the sun. Ulric, Zevi, and Conner could easily protect against the newborn and as of yet, she had not encountered anyone even in the double digits wanting a piece of One Direction. They didn’t need her and soon that would be apparent, then she could go home.

Whatever odd power Liam has over her would dissipate with distance. She could go back to protecting her Queen, a far more appropriate position for someone of her caliber. Yara would be safely ensconced in Alexandria and Liam would be God knew where doing whatever it is that famous singers did.

So why did she feel as though it was the last thing she wanted to do?

Yara came to Liam’s door and hesitated from going in, she knew she should at least do a quick perusal of his room and she would ignore anything…upsetting. She took another deep breath, unnecessary but it was one habit from her human life that still was useful in stressful situations, and steeled herself.

She stepped in and turned on the light; she was surprised to see that Liam was sitting on the bed in the darkness and wondered what he was doing there.

“Why aren’t you with the others?”

“Seemed there was a bit of confusion with our schedules…” he started to explain.

Suddenly everything mess up was coming into clarity and she had to say she was impressed with his tenacity, although part of her was incensed that he had left himself vulnerable without any type of security.

“Well, it’s good to know you are safe. I’ll be going,” she said to avoid the confrontation she knew would happen sooner or later and was determined to make it as later as possible.

Liam knew there was no feasible way he could make her stay by physical force. He’d never even dream of trying; particularly as laying a hand on a lady went against everything he was ever taught.

“If you don’t stay and talk to me I’ll keep thinking of new and more creative ways of getting you alone. Maybe Harry will come across a detailed map of every sang bar on tour and if he’d like me to go to them with him. Or maybe a tweet or two will make its way to Twitter that says how much I really wish my vampire ex-girlfriend would talk to me and maybe some other pretty girl with fangs will do so instead. If it doesn’t get you to talk to me then I definitely think at the very least it’ll prove how much we need you on tour. I’m sure that Mr.’s Ulric, Zevi, and Connor are very adept at what they do but who knows what a call to every vampire fan in America will do.

He was not, however, above using emotional and actual blackmail. She should have known she wouldn’t be able to fool Liam. She hated the internet with a fiery passion of ten thousand vampires meeting the sun. He knew that while she could try to distant herself from him, he knew that deep down she cared about what happened to him, no matter how cold and aloof she acted.

“You’ve never had a vampire girlfriend,” she said dismissively and refused to look at him.

That stung but at least his plan was working. She was still there and he wouldn’t waste the opportunity to get everything out in the air.

“Please talk to me Yara…I miss you.”

The way he said that with his sad brown eyes almost destroyed her resolve but then she thought of the life she could never give him. Knowing that his beautiful eyes would not be passed down, or his smile; she would not be that selfish.

If she was going to protect him she had to harden her heart against him.

“You have four best friends on tour…”

“It’s not the same and you know it.”

“Li,” she opted for the petname she had given him, hoping that if cold distance didn’t work than appealing to their friendship. “Please try to understand why I’m doing this. You have your whole life ahead of you. You’re only twenty…”

“Wasn’t it you the other week saying that today’s society coddle their youth too much? That at one point a fourteen year old was considered a full grown marriageable adult and eighteen was more than old enough to make their own decisions?”

She found it a little more than annoying when her own words and opinions were thrown back at her, inconveniently nullifying her argument.

“If you’re such an adult then take a hint and that no means no. Whatever you think was or was not going on between us I’m making clear now. ‘We’ are not happening. ‘We’ are never going to happen. I’m a vampire, I’ll be here long after everyone forgets who Liam Payne of One Direction ever was. Live your life and move on.”

“I’m not so naïve to think that One Direction will last forever or even past my mid-twenties. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t make it past my twenty-second birthday. But I don’t have to just grow old…”

“This just proves how young you are, have you listened to **nothing** I’ve said? What part of empty unending existence appeals to you? And if you think you’re going to get some sort of Twilight happy forever after out of me, you obviously do not know me at all. I’m not some lovesick virginal Edward, tortured lonely Louis, or eternally seeking redemption Angel. At most we’ll get a couple decades of good fucking and I wouldn’t be surprised if we got bored sooner than that. Sophia is a perfectly lovely girl who will probably pop out plenty of doe eyed sons for you. Appreciate the time you have, **live** your life…”

“That’s not the life I want!” Liam shouted, fed up with the same argument and going in circles. It was enough to startle Yara who had never seen him so riled up. “So what if Sophia is human and we could have a human life? With children and growing old together? None of that means anything to me if you’re not with me. I don’t love Soph like that. Not like I love you.”

Yara couldn’t even look at Liam with his confession. If she did she knew she wouldn’t be able to hold back the crimson blood tears that threatened to escape. In all her five hundred plus years as a vampire and even in her human life she had never felt that way for anybody the way she felt about him and in such a short time. Not even the human husband who she bore two children to, more of an expectation and her late husband was as good as any. She has had plenty of lovers in her lifetime, all enjoyed for the short while before she moved on to the next one. Or to the next hobby to occupy her vast amount of time. It wasn’t until she met Liam was it highlighted vapid and shallow her “relationships” have been and how much better they could be. To really connect someone and have them fill the void.

With Liam, time no longer mattered and it didn’t stretch out endlessly before her. With him, time was forgotten and all that mattered were the moments they shared together.

“Maybe it won’t last forever but I’m willing to give a go at it for as long as we can,” he pressed on, taking advantage of her silence and hoping he was getting through to her.

Suddenly an unending rage filled her at how easily he was willing to give up his humanity, something she would have given anything to gain back. He didn’t appreciate what she was trying to do and how much it hurt her to do it. He kept pushing and pushing her and she was at her breaking point.

The next thing Liam knew was that he was rammed painfully against the hotel wall, a few feet up with his legs dangling; the only thing keeping him up was Yara’s sheer strength. Her fangs were fully exposed and she made an unholy hiss; a predator clearly angry and unafraid to lash out.

“Is this what you want? A life constantly at battle with vicious killers who would love nothing more than to take a pretty boy like you at a whim? There are plenty of vampires older than I, male and female alike who do not care of your preferences, who would love to have a taste of you and I would be powerless to stop them. Would you like a Maker who could discard you at a moment’s notice simply because she’s bored? To leave you to fend for yourself, perhaps dying at the hands of the Fellowship of the Sun or blood starvation? Or to have a vampire lover who could one day drink too deep and tear at your throat? Leave you in the middle of the ocean where no one would find you? All of this happens and much worse Liam.”

She listed the many ways she had seen her vampire kin discard their humans as if they were nothing more than battered and used up toys. There were some who took the Maker/Childe relationship seriously, almost religiously. Others had no issue making them and dumping them into the world to make their own way, especially given the invention of synthetic blood. Some felt their Children got too clingy or needy, unwilling to deal with them for more than a decade, if that. There have been a slew of newborns left barely a year after being made, thinking that telling them the rules and showing them where to buy True Blood was the end of their responsibility towards their Childe.

Whatever romanticized notion he had of becoming a vampire and relationship that followed she needed to knock out of him, she would do whatever it took to make him see reason.

Yara had expected to see Liam whimpering in fear, she would not blame him in the current circumstance but he did nothing of the sort. His heart beat quickly, surprised at the sudden display of her power but he was not afraid.

She would never hurt him, he knew that deep in his heart and down to his bone and blood. Yara was just trying to protect him and he needed her to see he didn’t need that kind of protection. From other fanatical vampires yes – while he was still human for the time being – but not from her or the life he could have with her.

She was strong, brave, and noble. Even if she didn’t see it, he did and he trusted her with his life.

“Even if it’s only for a blink of an eye or for several lifetimes, whatever time we have together I will cherish and would be worth however it ends. I know **you** would never do those things. It’s not in your nature and it’s not who you are. I wouldn’t feel this way about you if it were.”

The fight in her left her at that revelation and the sincerity in his eyes. It was a very human thing to say and it’s what she loved about him too. He trusted deeply and saw through her like no one had ever before. He saw goodness in her that she had never seen; he saw the best in her. A part she was certain had died when she was made.

She had no defense against the love in his eyes.

Yara eased up and they slowly drifted to the ground, her grip slacked but she didn’t want to let him go. She gently rested her head against him, hearing his heartbeat; simultaneously loving the rhythm and sad that she did not have one of her own.

Enjoying being close again to her, he wrapped his arms around her small frame and held her closer; breathing in her unique earthy and windswept scent. It was a strange and heart touching feeling of having someone have such faith in her. Of trusting her so complicity when she was met with nothing but suspicion and mistrust from vampires and humans alike for centuries.

Even her own mother could not trust her enough to embrace her after she turned.

Perhaps she was too selfish to let him go after all, as every power under the moon and sun could not tear her from his arms.

“When One Direction is over and you are at least twenty-five…we’ll come back to this topic,” she whispered into his chest, half hoping he didn’t hear her.

It wasn’t everything he wanted but it was a start. He couldn’t help but smile widely at her small concession and was optimistic about their chances and his future. He’d be twenty-one in a few months and four years wasn’t very long, especially when he had an eternity to look forward to. A lot could happen and he was realistic enough to know that One Direction wouldn’t last forever. Not unless they evolved with their fans and got a more grown up sound and even then there was no guarantee. But they were all getting their on with their own lives, lives that were hindered by being constantly on tour. He wouldn’t be surprised if one or more of the lads wanted to branch out and be something other than a unit or retire from music. He had toyed with the idea of going solo enough and he was certain he wasn’t the only one. He loved the boys like brothers and One Direction has been a hell of a ride. But perhaps it was becoming the dusk of that portion of their career.

Liam gently lifted Yara’s head to face him and he leaned down for a sweet kiss. She didn’t fight him and took comfort in the chaste sign of their love. For the first time in centuries she felt warm and safe, she didn’t have to run and she didn’t have to be afraid.

Yara started to think maybe eternity wasn’t so bad after all.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

When one was a celebrity with teenage girls making up the majority of their fanbase, nothing can be kept secret for long. Although there was no formal announcement, and even with Yara’s keen supernatural senses, they weren’t able to ditch the paparazzi forever and soon their relationship was made public.

As with his previous relationship, he was under a microscope and everything was speculated upon. He was called some unflattering names, mostly fangbanger and variations thereof, and he had more than one conversation with Simon about damaging the brand. The conversations went nowhere as he wasn’t about to throw away a relationship over an unrealistic clean cut image he wanted to get rid of in the first place. It wasn’t that he wanted to be the new bad boy of the group, nothing as superficial as that, but he did want the world to treat him as the adult he was. He had every right to smoke, get tattoos, and drink if it was within the legal age of that country. That’s what every other adult in the world had a right to do and just because his fanbase was mostly teenagers didn’t mean he lost those rights. Liam felt that their music should be able to stand up to the shattering of an impossible image to live up to. He wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t have feeling for Yara, and he didn’t want to give into pressures of trying to fit this perfect potential boyfriend mold for his younger fans. What he and Yara had was real, and he wasn’t about to give that up for someone else’s fantasy version of him.

Besides the unkind names for himself, Yara wasn’t fairing all that well either. Nothing seemed more vicious than a jealous teen girl whose favorite band member was dating someone. Luckily Yara wasn’t on social media, but it wasn’t something he could ignore or put down though perhaps he should; and on more than one occasion he had been tempted to do. The way some were portraying her, he would have thought she was some sort of sexual deviant who was dating someone so much younger than herself. The word “pedophile” was thrown about as if he weren’t a grown ass man and could date whoever he wanted to, whether they were tens or hundreds of years older than him. He could understand the shock of his choice, but he would never understand the absolute venom and vitriol someone could write about people they knew nothing about and would never meet in their lifetime.

He had almost written something as vindictive back, wouldn’t be the first time, but he was stopped by his new paramour.

Liam’s anger was momentarily forgotten when Yara broke his cellular with her bare hand, and the device crumpled as if it were wet tissue in her inhuman grip.

“That was my phone,” Liam said when he finally got over his shock, quite angry at the petite vampire.

“Yes, I know. But you were about to go on some silly tirade **on the internet** ,” she stressed to emphasis how asinine she thought the whole practice was.

It was times like that where he felt the age difference even if Yara looked like a teenager. She could be as condescending as any other person who was substantially older than him, acting as if he knew nothing and they knew everything simply due to the amount of rotations the Earth went around the sun they had on him. He let out a frustrated sigh, clearly unhappy and she was not one bit impressed.

“Vampires do not Tweet, Li.”

“I’m not a vampire, and I won’t be for several years.”

“No one should Tweet. It’s a feat of true narcissism that anyone thinks anyone truly cares about the minutiae of the day.”

He looked truly affronted at her insinuation.

Perhaps Liam was too young for her, he still had a lot of growing up to do and perhaps she ought to amend their agreement to thirty as opposed to twenty-five for her to possible turn him. It seemed to her that humans held onto their childish antics longer and longer. They certainly loved their late adolescent phase of not having to become fully functional adults and thinking the world revolved around them. She could admit that Liam and the others were more mature than their peers given their profession, and need to behave a certain way but in other ways, their growth was stunted. Being excessively fawned over would ruin anyone’s character and it seemed in this area Liam was prone to petulance over the opinions of strangers.

“It’s the internet, Li. You don’t know them and they don’t know you. If you don’t know them personally, don’t take things personally.”

There was wisdom to her words, but that didn’t stop him from being angry at them and frustrated with her for not being angry along with him. Especially when the majority of his anger was for her.

“I’m a five-hundred plus year old vampire Li, I think I can weather a few nasty comments from girls I have not met, will never meet, and I don’t know; who will be nothing but dust to me down the line.”

When she said things like that, it did put things into perspective. Was he really going to make a battle out of every little comment thrown their way? With his phone destroyed and Yara point blankly telling him he was being daft and self-centered, he also remembered all the times that he fighting back tit for tat had worked against him instead of helping. It merely fueled the flames of the gossip rags and more often than not, his intent was misconstrued and he was worse off than before. So, begrudgingly, he yielded although with bad grace as he rolled his eyes and sat back on the bus’ sofa.

Yara held back her own eye roll but accepted that at least it was a win. He would have some time to grow before she made him a vampire, if they made it that far, and it’d be an easier transition. Newborns were hot headed as it was, making them as teenagers was even worse and she didn’t understand why most of her kind opted to turn them so young. It probably added to the high death rate of the newly made, if blood starvation didn’t get them then being killed by an older vampire for insubordination or disrespect, real or imagined, would. Even with synthetic blood, most vampires opted for seclusion with their newly made childe for at least a year before introducing them to another vampire. Those, like Kristoff and Antonia, who opted to do it sooner were met with swift retribution if the childe was not fit for vampire society, especially under the regime of the Authority.

Makers were responsible for the actions of their progeny. Period.

She would never let that happen though, she’d kill every vampire that would dare even look at him the wrong way. She softened a bit when she saw that he wasn’t angry at her, but at the situation.

They were alone in the back of his tour bus, his mates respecting the new relationship enough to give the couple some privacy although Harry and Zayn were none too happy. The former mostly because it was sheer hypocrisy that for whatever reason Liam was allowed to date a vampire, but he was off limits and the former stewing in jealousy with no Perrie to comfort him.

Yara was done with Liam’s pouting, and instead of remonstrating with him as if he were a child, she slowly crawled onto his lap and straddled him. He allowed her uncross his arms and met her with an apologetic kiss. He knew her well enough that she was not the type to say she’s sorry, but she could show it. She was sorry that their relationship was causing him a headache, and that she went as far as to destroy his phone. She didn’t know what it was like to be human or to be famous even, but she could appreciate that it wasn’t easy to be in his position and that she was the cause of a lot of grief. She supposed anybody, even some vampires well into their two-hundreds, would be vexed under the constant barrage of criticism for simply being human.

“In fifty years you’ll look back and laugh at how annoyed you were, and why you thought they were even worthy of your time or energy,” she said after their kiss and as she touched her forehead against his.

He loved little intimate gestures like that, being close and not necessarily sexual. It was just such a normal couple thing to do, and it made him a little giddy whenever she talked about their future. Especially in terms of decades as it was further proof she was reconciled, and even looking forward to their eternity together. He leaned up to kiss her again, and from there it started to deepen. He was hoping to take advantage of their semi-privacy, and let his hands wander. He couldn’t get over how room temperature she felt, her skin feeling cold compared to his hands. He had read that normally vampires could feel body-heat warm if they had recently fed, but she adamantly refused to drink from him and synthetic blood didn’t have the same effect. He knew she was tempted by his blood as she tended to focus her kisses on his neck, and took every opportunity to lightly take in his scent but annoyingly she had too much control.

Liam felt put out and as if she was keeping a wall between them when she wouldn’t feed from him, as he knew it was considered an intimate gesture between a vampire and their human companion. But she always repeated it wasn’t a personal thing, and she was only trying to look after him.

“ _Liam, you do several shows a week. You need all your blood in your body. Feeding from you even once could make you B12 deficient and anemic._ ”

Although her warning filtered through his head, it was hard for him to concentrate on it when her lips were on his throat and her hands ran through his hair. All he wanted was for her to show her perfect and petit fangs and sink them into him. His blood heated and he hardened under her, pulling her closer.

As much as Liam wanted her to feed from him, Yara was just as desperate to sink her teeth into him. His blood was young, hot, and he was oh so willing but she exerted all the control she had because a few moments of the high blood and sex would offer could have dire consequences for his health. The heat of the lights and as much physical activity he did while performing plus rigorous interview schedule, any blood loss could end up in hypotension and he in the hospital. She didn’t want to hurt him in any way, and she could just see herself unceremoniously kicked off the tour and she would let them.

Before she could give into any temptation Liam’s supple neck provided, the flimsy door that was their only protection for privacy swung open, and the rest of the band trampled in.

Before they could blink, Yara was off of Liam and sitting on the opposite couch; and only Louis and Niall smiled knowingly.  Harry just rolled his eyes, and Zayn gave an almost unperceivable frown but mostly looked neutral. Liam had to shake his head to get some of his senses back, and politely took a pillow to hide his reaction to what he and Yara were previously doing.

“Zayn, why are you bleeding?” Yara asked the coiffed singer, smelling the lifesource in the air and her hidden fangs aching so slightly. She had been drinking bottled blood too long, she just might have to take up the Sheriff of the area’s offer for the next night and visit his fangbanger club. She wouldn’t feed from Liam, but she didn’t have qualms about feeding from willing vampire groupies. Although she made a note to talk to Liam about it before she did. While feeding could have an intimate aspect to it, sometimes it was just to satiate hunger and True Blood just wasn’t the same.

The raven haired beauty looked to his hand and remembered his paper cut. The boys all knew what she and Liam were getting up to in the back, and they all took advantage of the opportunity to take the mick out of Liam. They were all like brothers and given that, took joy in inconveniencing their mates when it came to their girlfriends. It was all in good fun, but part of Zayn did it because he couldn’t stand the thought of only being a few meters away from the couple, doing things he wished he could be doing in his friend’s stead.

It was probably the first time since meeting Yara that Zayn was bleeding, and it wasn’t on purpose. He had been messing with a package of fanmail and nicked his finger trying to open it. Their flimsy excuse of going to the back of the bus was for a band aid. He curtly explained what had happened and went to look for their first aid kit.

Liam quickly looked at Yara and their eyes met, both acknowledging that Zayn was acting off but there was nothing to be done about it. He had hoped that both Harry and Zayn would accept Yara’s choice and move on but it seemed both were going to be pouting for the long run. He hated that they were upset and they were his best friends; he didn’t want to lose them, and it was stupid that they were mad at each other. At some point he was going to have to talk to them, but all three seemed to be ok with giving each other the space they needed for now.

“I like you Yara,” Louis said jovially as he sat down as if he didn’t notice Liam’s hard on and pretended as if he didn’t walk in on a sexually charged moment. Grinning like an idiot and acting ever like the mischievous sibling all too happy to ruin the moment.

“And why is that Louis?” she asked, genuinely curious as he had been the most skittish at first.

“Most of our vampire fans, they drop fang at the instant of meeting us. We don’t even have to be bleeding. I’ve been reading up on vampires on the AVL website, frequently asked questions page, and it said not to be worried about it. That it happens to young vampires and even older ones when confronted with fresh blood. But not you, you’re cool as a cucumber as you American’s say. I like that. I like that a lot.”

It was a fair observation and a valid comment. She was sure if she was still human she would definitely prefer the vampire with control.

She had other things to do that night to prepare for the next. They were stopping in Louisiana, and they had a couple shows at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium though she fought to have that part of the tour canceled.

Too many wild rumors emanating from the area, and it seemed as if nothing good could be found there. The Authority seemed to have little control, but she trusted that if any vampire could take them to heel it would be Roman Zimojic. She also didn’t know the new King, Bill Compton. She had heard of him as being the only childe of the newly dead Lorena who was notorious for her bloodlust, which was a rather hard reputation to gain in vampire society. The only contact she had with him was when he wanted to get information on her vampire family history and personal information for his Vampire Database a few years ago. She told him to go to whatever hell his gods had for him, and never spoke to him again. She had no idea how a two-hundred something vampire became King, and she didn’t want to know. She knew enough that she had to tread lightly, and planned on paying her respects to the sheriff of Area 5. Fortunately King Bill’s progeny, gathered from her Queen’s intelligence, wasn’t a One Direction fan even though she was a teenager when turned and only a few years old. Yara had concerns that at some point she would run into a sheriff or monarch with enough clout to force her hand, and have them meet the band if their progeny was so inclined, and were willing to indulge them. If it came to that, she had a back-up plan to poison Niall’s food and take him out for a couple nights. It was the lesser evil of exposing him to the vampire hierarchy, and leaving him vulnerable to those who were stronger than her. She was no fool, she knew that some vampires were not happy about the Great Revelation and even went as far as being Sanguinistas: religious lunatics that took a literal interpretation of the Vampire Bible and saw humans as nothing but food. Those that held those particular beliefs kept them hidden, and she wouldn’t trust another vampire around Niall as far as she could have thrown them if she were human.

Yara made her excuses, gave a quick peck to Liam, and in a blur she was gone.

Niall was curious as to why Yara felt the need to be extra precautions in that particular Southern State and visions of vampires he’d never met killing humans he didn’t know flashed before his eyes. He now knew she was right to be afraid for them although why he was in particular danger still eluded him. The answer to the question of what he was and why he got such visions or knowledge remained only bright lights. He then made the mistake of wondering how Yara planned to protect him, and he suddenly knew in exact detail her plans of poisoning him. It would be nothing fatal, but he was perturbed that she would have to go to such lengths and how sick he would have to be in order for that to be the safer option.

Like Louis, while he had his reservations he did like Yara and appreciated what she was willing to do to protect them.

* * *

 

It was still the last vestiges of summer daylight even though it was approaching 8:00pm. Although the nights were beginning to get shorter, it would still be a month or longer for the days to be more vampire friendly with darkness coming as early as 5pm. Thankfully Yara had ways of waking before nightfall although he had earlier believed that once vampires were asleep they were literally dead to the world and would not awaken until the sun set, their body’s natural rhythm knowing when it was safe to awaken. His girlfriend never gave him details, but he was glad he could have a few more stolen moments with her before he went on stage; assuming there was some sort of special device like alarm clock that could jolt her awake.

They were staying at the Dauphine Orleans Hotel which was not sunproof, was at least vampire friendly. He stayed in a heavily draped room that blocked out almost all sunlight, and her room adjoined his.  The hotel was all Southern charm and had a classic French Quarter feel. There were stories of it being haunted, and the luxurious rooms were scrumptious with thick carpet and high cream ceilings and moldings. He particularly liked the soak in tub, and hoped to take advantage of it while they were staying there.

Yara, however, was not focused on her opulent surrounds –they weren’t so much to her given her Queen’s extravagant tastes- as she wore pristine white cotton gloves; the kind he had seen on detective or forensic shows and they didn’t want to contaminate evidence. She was handling a pure silver chain and hanging it around his neck. It was a simple piece, one of many in his new collection provided by Catalina De Luna. He wasn’t sure why, but for whatever reason Yara was inordinately paranoid about Louisiana. She had never forced them to deck out in their silver thread laced clothes or finely wrought jewelry until then. That night they were making a very obvious statement that vampires needed to back off them, and it made him nervous that she was so agitated.

It also frustrated him that she was taking all these precautions, and wasn’t even going to be at the arena. He knew logically that she deserved nights off just like anybody else, it wasn’t as if their shows varied from night to night so he could understand if she was tired of seeing them perform; but she was being secretive about what she was doing that night. All she would tell him was that it was “vampire business” and left it at that. He didn’t like being kept in the dark that way, and if he was going to become a vampire in the near future then he should be trusted to know what she got up to.

“I don’t like wearing this stuff,” he told her quietly as she sprayed some of his favorite cologne that was specially made with silver nitrate, and diluted enough to not irritate his skin. Seeing her nose twitch, he could tell the fragrance was enough to aggravate her sinuses but that she was pleased that it added another subtle layer of protection.

If Yara had her way, they would have avoided Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas altogether. It was still too soon after the Russell Edgington incident, among other supernatural mishaps, for her comfort. She didn’t know what was going on in the area that made supes go insane, but she was prudent enough not to go running towards a fire.

“Well you would like a crazed three-thousand year old vampire ripping your spine from your back even less,” she said evenly, hoping to get her point across.

Liam winced as he recalled seeing the YouTube video of the incident in question. He didn’t normally watch American news, but it was a clip seen around the world in mere seconds. It certainly didn’t paint vampires in a flattering light, but the AVL and the EVU managed to make it seem like it was an isolated incident that was carried out by the vampire equivalent of a terrorist. No one had seen the vampire since, and it was believed and reported that he had been detained and given the True Death. It was clear Yara did not hold that same belief, and while he was glad that he was wearing armor that would protect him from violent vampires, he hated that it also kept her away as well.

“I know you’re a big strong and insanely fast five-hundred year old vampire, but can you at least promise me you’ll be careful with whatever ‘vampire business’ you’re attending to tonight?”

She mulled over how much she should tell him. He had only been her paramour for about a month, and while she felt strongly for him, things could go south and she didn’t have the power to glamour away any memories he would have of vampire culture he shouldn’t. Still, she should start trusting him if he was going to be her first Childe, but she loath to do that to him still. She had played around with the thought of asking her Queen to turn him. Yara didn’t want that kind of unfair power over him, and while the bond of Maker and Childe was the strongest there would ever be, she wanted him to always have the freedom to leave without her having to give it to him. Catalina was the only vampire she trusted enough to not abuse her status as Maker. She had seen too many hapless newbornes break under the too often said statement of “As your maker…”

That bond was supposed to be invoked to teach the newly made how to act and stop them from doing something rash in their blood lust or newly heightened senses, but more often than not it was to assert total domination over their progeny for the sake of power and solely just because they could. It was not a pleasant feeling, and she had only experienced it once. She couldn’t imagine being under that kind of thrall until the Maker decided it was time for their progeny to be independent, if that ever even happened.

Yara was unsure how she would break the news to Liam, seeing as he already had over romanticized notions of what it meant to be vampire.

Still, she preferred honesty over secrecy and if worse came to worse Catalina could glamor.

“There is a hierarchy within vampire culture…”

“You’re a sheriff,” Liam stated and he explained further when it was clear Yara wasn’t totally pleased he knew that little factoid. “You said ‘as sheriff of…’ area something to Antonia that night.”

She relaxed when it was clear Liam hadn’t been talking to someone he shouldn’t have, and she did remember her saying that to assert her authority over her domain, which included the Verizon Center.

“Yes, in any given state, and sometimes across multiple states, there is a vampire monarch.”

“Vampires operate under a monarchy?” Liam asked, genuinely surprised. He knew they would have to have some sort of common social contract as it was the only way to have remained hidden and survive as they did. Although his initial instinct was that they were all lone creatures and played by whatever rules they wanted. It was hard to imagine such powerful beings bending at the knee to anyone.

She struggled how to explain the intricacies of the vampire hierarchy. Yes the leaders of distinct geographical areas were called Kings and Queens, but they didn’t hold power because of some divine right handed to them by a higher power; nor where they merely figureheads for ribbon cuttings or to rally a nation together in a unifying cultural identity. 

“It’s not the kind of monarchy that you’re thinking of…it’s more of a ‘whoever conquers the last one gets to wear the crown.’ And even the Kings and Queens must answer to somebody. Liam, I need you to listen very carefully. You must not tell **ANYONE** what we have spoken to this night. No vampire would consider you my boyfriend. For all they’re concerned, you’re my human pet; even those who are in line with mainstreaming. A relationship isn’t considered valid unless its’ between two vampires, even if we were married in the traditional vampire way; those can be broken for contracts between two makers and their progeny.”

So many questions bounced inside his head, unsure of which to ask first.

Vampires could be married? Did she want that with him, even if he was still human? Was he even ready for that kind of commitment?

While he was planning to turn and be with her, that was still years from then. She made it no secret that he was not bound to still be with her, or to turn if he had changed his mind. He was not trapped but marriage was a different story.

It also disheartened him to think that some wouldn’t consider their relationship although it wasn’t terribly surprising. Some humans had made their feelings very clear on what they thought she was using him for, and why he was with her. It didn’t help that vampires also considered him nothing more than a toy for her and would not be anything more unless he turned.

“I will explain in more detail as things progress, especially before you turn but that’s for the future. Just know that there are several sheriffs for each kingdom, and passing through usually requires some sort of notification and even a formal presentation in some cases depending on the monarch. For the tour, the monarchs have been notified en masse of my travel plans and have given permission as long as I didn’t stay longer than a couple days. The sheriff of this particular Area, Five, is an arrogant Viking brat prince who said he wanted me to formally meet him; but that was months ago when the tour first started and I haven’t heard from him since. So I don’t even know if he wants to still meet, but decorum says I have to go anyway. Stupid giant Norse asshole.”

Liam was rather shocked at her language and clear unhappiness at having to go to the meeting. So he relaxed as it sounded more like a bureaucratic obligation rather than some clandestine gathering.

Still, he couldn’t help but be stressed at the whole thing. Something felt off, and he knew Yara wasn’t telling him everything. He let most of it slide because they had just officially gotten together, and it wouldn’t be fair to ask her to reveal everything at once and on his timetable. She would tell him things when she was ready and, although very annoyingly, when she felt he was ready.

They had time.

Liam was surprised that with her supernatural speed she took a gossamer scarf and placed it between them, kissing him goodbye through the sheer fabric. It protected her from any stray silver that might have settled on his lips and she held his head gently and lovingly, looking deep into his eyes, willing without glamor powers for him to trust her.

“You let me worry about vampire politics. You worry about putting on a kick-ass show.”

He couldn’t help the stupid smile that donned his face and he shook his head to agree to her demand.

Then she was gone and all she left was a soft breeze. He was pumped for the night and he didn’t care what the world thought of their relationship.

* * *

 

In another room, Niall tried to get all the silver laced clothing he had together, and jewelry he was given but couldn’t decide on what to wear. It didn’t help that his mum had called and was yapping in his ear, talking about every little thing that was going on back home and with the family.

“Mum, I’m sorry but I need to get ready…I’m only here for a couple days and I’m working nonstop…I know I have a cousins and family in the area but I can’t stop…I’ve never even met them before, do they even know how I am? They’re cousins how many times removed? Are we even actually related? **Fine**. I’ll give them a ring…OK…OK….OK! Love you, bye.”

The blond threw is phone to the side and concentrated on what he was going to wear, thinking he really should have insisted on having the stylist with him but Harry and Zayn always bogarted their attention, ever the fashionistas.  

Distractedly when he was choosing between the polo or the button down, he muttered to himself,

“What kind of name is ‘Sookie’ anyway?”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Very Graphic Depiction of Violence. Please do not read if this type of thing upsets you.

Fangtasia was worse than she could have ever imagined. Not only was it a tacky goth bar that fed into every stereotype about vampires, but it was in a shit redneck town. Why Northman and De Beaufort settled there was beyond her.

“ _They must have lost a bet of some sort_ ,” she thought sardonically to herself as she made her way to the bar.

There was an odd clamor and vibe in the air, something was off and she wasn’t sure what. The vampires were also decked head to toe in black, it seemed everyone but her was willing to play the part of tortured 90’s Anne Rice vampire. The women were all wearing impossibly tight corsets or less, taking advantage of not needing to breathe; and the men were head to toe in black leather. What struck her as strange was that some were feeding out in the open instead of in specially made stalls that were roomy enough to fit two or more people for feeding and fucking purposes she had seen in other sang bars.

She didn’t remember Northman to be so bold as to shirk off the Authority’s, not to mention US law, decree but not her area and not her King. It was also a small town, compared to DC even though Shreveport was the third largest in Louisiana, so perhaps the law as not as enforced there.

Yara eyed the bartender who had a constant scowl on her face as if it were etched there permanently. It seemed the new vampire didn’t care to work there as much as Yara didn’t want to patronage. There was no sight of Northman or his progeny so she might as well get a drink, perhaps ask the employee where her employers were, and if they were going to grace them with their presence anytime soon. She’d prefer to make it back to New Orleans as soon as possible, even if it was during the day. Her driver was waiting outside in a light tight town car, and she wanted to get her obligatory pleasantries over with.

“Welcome to Fangtasia, where your Fangtasies come true. What can I get you?” the bartender said pleasantly enough but in a clipped tone, willing to play nice enough to the customers but clearly wanting to get it over with.

Yara winced at the cheesy line, and felt sorry for the girl.

“Only De Beaufort would be evil enough to force her employees to say that,” Yara said to the bartender, the black vampire surprised at the familiar way she spoke of her maker.

“You know Pam?”

“Met her and Northman back in the 80’s during a Summit. You have my condolences having to work for them, hope they pay you extra to pander to the Stephanie Meyer crowd.”

“Pssst. They don’t pay me at all…one of the many perks of being Pam’s progeny,” she explained when she saw the genuine horrified look the other vampire gave her, and clearly wondered why she would work at such a place with no pay.

Yara was even more surprised when the vampire told her she was Pam’s progeny. Eric had only made one vampire in his two-thousand existence, and Pam made two before out of “curiosity.” She didn’t think Pam would create again after that, but the vampire had no reason to lie.

Tonight was full of surprises.

“Have any Pure Royalty?”

Now it was the bartender’s turn to be surprised, and was momentarily speechless as no one in the area, not even Eric of Pam, could afford it. Yara figured as much, but she thought she’d give it a try; it never hurt to ask.

“I’ll take that as a no, I’ll take a Trublood. AB Pos. Extra hot.”

That they did have, and the bartender quickly microwaved the bottle and served it to the teenage looking vampire. When the girl plopped down a black AmEx it was clear she was a high roller and Tara wondered what she was doing in a bar like Fangtasia. There was a vampire hotel, The Giaore, in Shreveport proper that catered to the wealthier crowd that she would have been more in place with.

“I’m Tara, by the way,” the bartender introduced herself. She didn’t offer her hand in salutation as it wasn’t vampire etiquette to touch someone unnecessarily.

“Yara. Don’t suppose Northman is here?”

Tara shook her head, not knowing who this vampire was or what she wanted with her grandsire, she didn’t know how much information to give out.

“He’s busy, what do you want?” Pam came from nowhere, wondering what a Sheriff of the DC/MD/VA Queen wanted with her maker. Normally Pam would be making sarcastic quips about Yara being too young to be in the bar, but she was too frazzled by worrying about Eric. It was bad enough he was out frolicking doing god knew what with the Authority, and then there were new relaxed rules about feeding. It also didn’t help that she heard rumors that Eric was being replaced as Sheriff due to his new role in the Authority, and she did not relish having to pay taxes to some new upstart vampire.

“Is that how you treat paying customers De Beaufort?”

“Well, we’re a little closer than that; aren’t we Yara? I mean, I have had your face between my legs.”

Tara’s eyes bugged at how quickly the conversation got awkward, but not that surprised as it was Pam.

“She thinks that bothers me but jokes on her, she turned me off women permanently,” Yara directed at Tara, and took a swig of her drink as if they were having a normal every day conversation over a beer.

“Enough with the pleasantries, I’d love to spend all night trading thinly veiled insults but I do have things to do. Is the Sheriff here or not?”

“He’s not.”

“Of course he’s not. Well I’m passing through, and will leave NOLA in two nights. Next time Northman asks me to stop by his area and pay tribute, tell him to go fuck himself. Thank you Tara for the lovely bottle of Trublood, it was heated perfectly. Keep the change,” Yara rambled off, pissed that Eric would stand her up like that after insisting she visit him formally but glad she didn’t have to stay.

Tara was confused that anyone would dare to speak to Pam or about Eric that way, but perhaps the vampire was vastly older and her maker knew not to cross the line. And if she could still breathe, her throat would have hitched in surprise. The other vampire left two crisp $100 bills on the bar, and that’s after she had already swiped the AmEx for the TruBlood. It was the best tip she had ever gotten, dead or alive.

“Who was that?” Tara asked, curious as hell as to who the small vampire could be.

“Yara Solis, self-hating vampire with a sense of irony,” Pam replied referring to Yara’s last name. “Rumored to have killed her maker right as she got out of the ground. Killed several of her brothers and sisters, at least that’s how the story goes. The magistrate could never prove it and she’s too fast for most enforcers to catch. When they did catch up to her, she was under the protection of a Queen and had to have a fair trial. Nothing stuck, so she’s been Queen Catalina’s pitbull ever since.”

“How old is she?” Tara asked, thinking maybe the vampire was ancient, and that’s what made her so quick. For Pam, or any vampire, to describe another as fast meant something as they were all superhumanly swift.

“She’s only five-hundred, just a particular talent she possesses. That and killing vampires that get in her way.”

“How have they not been able to prove she did it if everyone is so sure she killed another vampire?”

Tara might be new to being a vampire, but she knew for sure that a vampire killing another vampire was met with harsh penalties. Sookie told her that Bill had to create Jessica as a punishment for killing Long Shadow, the vampire bartender before her. The original punishment was to be chained in silver and left in a coffin for five years. Long enough for a vampire to go completely mad, but the magistrate commuted the sentence given that Bill killed Long Shadow out of self-defense of “his human,” and to protect Eric’s interest since the vampire bartender was stealing from the club.

“The killings always take place during the day, and Yara several states or countries away by the time the remains are found,” all Pam could give was patched up gossip.

Tara thought that perhaps Yara had human friends that helped her out or paid another supe to do her bidding. There were plenty of ways to explain away the suspicious phenomena.

“Enough with trying to figure out that uppity vampire,” Pam said shortly, losing patience with her progeny and not wanting Yara to be in their presence or area any longer. She would never admit to fearing the petit vampire, but something unsettled her about Yara. There had been plenty of vampires that pit themselves against the native girl, but only Yara was left standing. She didn’t know Yara’s maker, only that he was ancient and had a taste for collecting “exotic” humans to make progeny. It was said he wanted one from every corner of the earth to show off, a menagerie of vampires. When he met the True Death in the New World, it didn’t take long for fingers to point at his newest creation; even if it was considered impossible for a Childe to kill their Maker. It also didn’t help that she somehow not only survived her first year without the guidance of a Maker, but became an efficient killer. Yara was known to hold a grudge against Isabella of Castille, whom she blamed for the invasion and occupation of her land and people. The vampire somehow managed to go to Europe, and made a name for herself killing the courtiers of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V; both vampire and human alike.

In under a hundred years, Yara garnered notoriety that most vampires couldn’t in a thousand.

Through the centuries, several of Benicio Santos Tavares dos Melo Silva’s progeny had been known to confront Yara, wanting to know what happened to their Maker. Several nights later, their bloody remains were all that was left in their coffins or secret hiding places; and the nest would only say the last thing the vampire did was try to kill Yara.

There was some kind of commotion going on in the front of the bar, near the exit. Pam should have known Yara would stir up trouble, as if she didn’t have enough of that going around.

Pam was a blur, and right next to the scuffle. She twitched her nose in disgust as she smelled shifters were in the group; always giving off the stench of wild animals in the woods wherever they went. From their antics she could tell it was another group of weres hopped up on V. The vampire in the middle was clearly their supplier, and it was becoming more fashionable to get shapeshifters hooked on V to act as bodyguards and personal thugs.

“What is going on here?” Pam demanded and wanted all of them out of her bar as soon as possible.

“Oh nothing,” the blond vampire said in a sing song voice, sweet as could be and acted as if butter couldn’t melt in her mouth. “Just letting Yara know she can’t protect her little boy band forever, and once my weres get a hold of them…well, we shall see won’t we?”

Yara looked passive and didn’t reply. Obviously the vampire was made only in the last fifty years or so, and hadn’t heard of her reputation. Pam rolled her eyes, and knew there was going to be a dead vampire and her pack of weres by the next night. She only hoped it was in another Area and she wouldn’t be dragged in to testify in front of the magistrate.

De Beaufort had heard of Yara’s new career and new human. She and Eric had a good laugh, thinking such a skilled vampire brought so low as to be a baby sitter for a British boy band. She thought that he was a bit young, but by human laws an adult and who was she to say anything? In different circumstances she would have ribbed Yara for her choice of pet, but she had too many other things going on. She knew enough that the older vampire had to care greatly about her companion to kill anything and anyone who would seek to harm him; as she had never taken a paramour as publicly as she had. There were even rumors that she had planned to turn him, which for Yara was completely unheard of; her scorn of being turned against her will was world renowned.

Part of her had scoffed at thinking of Yara to turn anyone, what kind of Maker would she be? The curly haired vampire couldn’t even glamour. Pam and Eric had an ongoing bet of when the boy would die, both agreeing he wouldn’t make it a year.

Yara had too many enemies,  and quite frankly didn’t know how to be a proper vampire.

Yara left without another word, the cocky younger one swaggered into the bar area; thinking that she won the showdown and couldn’t wait to sink her fangs into Louis Tomlison and the other four members of One Direction. Change was coming on the wind. Soon, the vampire community would take its place as the apex predator; sunder humans low where they belonged as they were nothing more than food and warm bodies. It was about time they realized that.

* * *

 

After a night of dropping V and carousing through Shreveport, the pack settled to their normal day routine; which consisted of guarding the house of their supplying vampire and waiting for their next hit. Some of them got some much needed sleep while others too amped up from the blood twitched and mumbled gibberish as they nervously walked around the slightly decrepit house with no real purpose.

Their vampire was relatively young, and not all that well connected. She made most of her money from selling her blood, and whatever the pack could give in exchange for a dry place to sleep and a steady source of V.

Clover Greenfield was made only twenty-five years ago, her Maker releasing her only ten years after being embraced. She had to make her own way in the world, mostly hiding in abandoned warehouses and stealing from humans witless enough to be alone with her; promises of sex in exchange for cash. She had bigger dreams though. It might have taken a few decades, but she was going to create an empire of shapeshifter addicts and extortion. It would become particularly handy once the Authority took over the human government, then other vampires would pay top dollar for her weres; all desperately wanting protection during the day as they slept. She was sure that even if they conquered the human world, there would still be some spry enough to kill them during the day. With werewolf or shifter protectors, they stood a better chance. Was a better thing to align themselves with other supes than it was to the humans.

The old abandoned southern plantation house used to be slave quarters in the small town of Bon Temps. The roof was ancient and barely intact enough to keep the rain out, but it would do for now. There was only five weres and the vampire slept in a hidden compartment underneath the house. They were promised a glorious future of V and riches, all they needed to do was protect her during daylight hours. It was easy enough, they were vastly stronger than any human and could probably take on an army of them; even the well-equipped and usually heavily armed Fellowship of the Sun. The humans were not aware of other supernaturals such as shapeshifters, dwarves, and they weren’t even sure real witches existed. So if nothing else, they had the element of surprise.

Sasha was the oldest member of the pack, and arguable the most addicted to V. She could never sit still when coming down from the high, and always seemed to be in a constant state of being uncomfortable. Her skin felt constantly itchy and her bones never in the right place. No matter how much she scratched or tried to stretch, she was always out of sorts and only V could make it all go away. Given her severe addiction, she was the most vicious of the lot and the most willing to do whatever it took to make their vampire happy.

Nothing mattered but getting the next high.

She had killed many people, children included, in order to further Clover’s agenda. Most vampires were still living in the superstitious dark ages where they thought their blood sacred and taboo to share other than embracing or bonding. She would be more than happy to leave the witless vampire with a half-baked plan for a more powerful vampire willing to share their blood, but Clover was the best and only option they had so far. So if it meant killing entire families or spreading her legs for whatever supe or human with a kink for fur, she would do it.

Lost in her obsessive thoughts of her next hit, she didn’t notice her fellow shapeshifters die within seconds. It wasn’t until the warm spray of fresh blood hit her face that she even noticed anything was wrong. Before she could blink, she was bound in silver chains, burning like hot coals into her skin, and made worse as she was hung a few feet off the ground and the metal dug further into her flesh due to gravity. Her skin scorching as if on a bar-b-que, and the smell stung in her nostrils. She screamed an unholy howl of pain, but being deeper in the woods on an abandoned plantation, no one was around to hear her. Clover was in the middle of a dead sleep and would not awake for anything, and even if she could she wouldn’t move from her safe light tight coffin to help them. Wolves addicted to V were a dime a dozen and Sasha was under no illusion that the vampire would lift a finger to help them.

Once she got her bearings, and her brain caught up with what was happening, she saw the carnage of what was once her rag tag pack. Body pieces with little frayed pieces of gore scattered around the house, the floor and walls soaked with blood; the ferrous scent so thick she could taste pennies in her mouth. The horror of her surroundings fell away as she focused on the small figure in the middle of the room.

Yara Solis, vampire bodyguard to One Direction; the boyband Clover was obsessed with and had her sights on. Supposedly the vampire had intelligence that the tide was about to sway against humans and vampires were going to declare war. She spoke of a free reign on claiming humans, and she was adamant about putting her claim on the five humans before that happened.

The bodyguard looked every inch the human with her casual jeans and Captain America t-shirt. If she hadn’t been in the vampire bar the night before, Sasha would have thought her an average teenager and wouldn’t give her a second thought. But there the vampire was standing in the midday sun that flooded the shack, with nothing conspicuous other than pristine white cloth gloves.

Yara observed the were dispassionately and wished she didn’t need to bother with these little inconveniences, but she couldn’t ignore a direct threat to Liam or the other boys. And if she was honest with herself, she hadn’t had a good kill in a while so it wasn’t all drudgery. She was quite proud of the mess she made and with how hard the wolf was breathing and the smell of absolute terror that filled the air along with the sweet smell of fresh blood. She knew the bitch was regretting aligning herself with such an idiotic vampire.

She carefully made her way to the center of the room, where the wolf was dangling from the ceiling in heavy pure silver chains. The were’s eyes were shifting from blue to gold, obviously trying to change into her wolf form, but the arcane properties of the metal blocking her from doing so. Yara didn’t know what it was about silver that most supernaturals had an affliction to, but she was glad it also worked on weres. She could have been quicker getting to her, but she wanted the wolf to suffer. With her keen eye and reasoning skills, she could tell the were squirming before her was the leader of the pack. And from what little intelligence she had in the are: the most vicious and had no problem taking out whole families for her vampire master.

Even if she had nothing personally against the wolf, the were was a bad dog that needed to be put down.

As she silently made her way to the wolf, she took out a massive bowie knife and without saying a word she grabbed the wolf’s foot; Yara, with her supernatural strength held her still long enough to cut off the appendage in one swift motion.

Another screech of pain that could wake the dead, although not really because Clover still didn’t move; Sasha thought she would be left to bleed to death, but the stump that used to be her foot flailed and futilely try to get away from harm instead pulsated with heat and agony. The knife clearly was also made of silver, and cauterized the skin as it cut through her flesh and bone.

“In case it wasn’t clear by the dismembered bodies littering your living room, that was to show you I’m not fucking around,” Yara stated simply and wanted to get on with business.

Sasha couldn’t talk with as much pain she was in, but all that was heard were her tears and quick breathing as she tried to pull through the pain.

“Where does Clover Greenfield sleep?”

The wolf was foolish enough to consider her options in light of everything. What exactly did she think was going to happen if she withheld the information Yara wanted? It was midday, several hours until the sun set and even then, Clover was no match for her. Yara could have waited until nightfall for a confrontation, but if she wanted to stay ahead of the Authority and get away with killing a fellow vampire, as she had dozens of times before, then she needed to be out of the city and back in New Orleans to give her a solid alibi. The driver from the night before thought she was in the light tight coffin, and that’s what everybody thought when they loaded it into her private room at the hotel. No one would be able to accuse her of being in Bon Temps first thing that evening if she was already three hours away and awoke at the hotel.

She also knew that the three werewolves employed to safeguard One Direction were also at the hotel and on duty. So no one could accuse her of having them do her dirty work. They would either chalk it up to a rival vampire and werewolf pack, or even the Fellowship of the Sun. Given how rural the area was, she wouldn’t be surprised if no one bothered to look too deeply into a vampire killing.

When the wolf wasn’t as forthcoming with information, she simply pressed the blade against her face and the wolf continued to sing for her. The knife was room temperature, but burned like a white hot poker. Given how weak the girl’s constitution was, Yara wondered if she did too much too soon. Her torturing skills were a little rusty, and wasn’t sure where the line of giving them enough pain to talk but not enough to render them witless.

Yara wasn’t sure how much wits the wolf had to begin with if she was siding with vampires just for their blood.

“Let’s make a deal. You tell me where Clover’s little hidey hole is, and I’ll not only stop the torture but I’ll end the pain,” and she reference her own wrist. The wolf assuming she meant to give her some blood to make it all go away

Anything for the next hit.

“She’s…under…the carpet. In…in…a trap door…” she finally managed out, wondering and praying if she could just pass out.

“Thanks!” Yara said in an ironically chipper tone as if the wolf just gave her directions to the local McDonald’s.

Perhaps it should have been obvious where the vampire would sleep since the shack was such a shit hole, and it literally couldn’t be very many places but she lifted up the moth eaten, among other things that soiled it, carpet and there was a clear hinge where a door should be. She lifted it up and there was an old worn coffin from the 1950’s. The hole was deep enough that sunlight didn’t hit it and when she lifted the lid, Clover remained dead to the world.

Most people thought vampires lying in their coffins with their hands crossed on their chest, but that was a load of stereotypical rubbish. Generally they were on their backs, but some human habits, such as how they fell asleep, were impossible to get rid of. So in her lifetime, Clover was a stomach sleeper and a pillow hugger, and that’s how Yara found her. If Clover wasn’t so still, she would have thought she was an average person taking a mid afternoon nap; looking peaceful and as if she had no care in the world. Almost innocent she would even go as far to say.

Without preamble, Yara brandished a wooden silver tipped stake she hid in her boots and made short work of Clover Greenfield.

The vampire was now nothing but a blob of disintegrated flesh and blood. She then took a small crystal vial from her back pocket, and filled it with the some of the remains of the hapless vampire.

Yara dusted herself off and made a disgusted face at the gore that was left on her boot from what was left of the weres and Clover alike. She looked at the were and saw the expectant eyes of a desperate animal. Eyes that said she should be given her due as she revealed where Clover lie.

Yara nodded her head and dropped fang, she was a vampire of her word after all.

She let the were drink deep, and soon the magic of vampire blood worked its way through the wolf. The skin that still touched silver was red, raw, and burnt but everything else started to mend itself together and most of the pain went away.

Sasha could finally breathe a little easier, and expected the vampire to unchain her and let her be. She would find another vampire patron, they weren’t that hard to find. Hell, she’d even start to work for the one in front of her; clearly Yara was powerful and kept her promises.

Yara was a vampire of her word. She never said anything about letting the werewolf live.

It wasn’t until the vampire was safely out of the house and the fire started, that Sasha realized her life was not going to be spared.

From a safe distance, she looked at the shack burn and heard the fraught wails of the werewolf as she was being immolated.

The small vampire doubted anyone would notice the smoke for a good while, as secluded as it was. Enough time to kill the werewolf still inside, and burn most of the evidence of her presence. She was certain the good people of Bon Temps would not be remiss about one less vampire and they would assume the weres were human fangbangers and, would not be missed either.

It was only about 1:00pm and her bus wouldn’t be there for a couple hours. Even with the three hour drive to New Orleans, it would still be plenty of time to get back into her hotel room and no one would be the wiser. She figured she would kill some time at the local bar, and play on her phone with the free wifi.

She was greeted by a perky redhead and although was looked at sideways for wearing her hair up in a baseball hat and didn’t take off her sunglasses, she figured in a town that had seen a maenad and several vampire attacks; it wasn’t the strangest thing to happen to her that week. The waitress/hostess’ fears, if she had any, were put to rest when Yara ordered a big plate of chili cheese fries. Nothing more American and non-threatening than a heart attack on a plate.

Yara might be able to walk in the sun but she still had every other vampire vulnerability, including the inability to eat real food. But as long as she laid low and pushed the food around, people tended not to notice her and that she hadn’t actually eaten anything. The to-go box, which she would dump on one of the boys or a transient, whoever actually wanted it, would make it seem maybe she wasn’t as hungry as she thought but still wanted to save the food.

Unfortunately the nauseatingly greasy food covered the scent of just about everything, including the two blondes that walked in having a cordial familial conversation.

Niall was at first annoyed that his mother pressured him to visit family he wasn’t even 100% how they were related to him, but once he got to the quaint little town of Bon Temps, he was glad he made the trek out there.

It was nice to talk to family from a completely different culture than his, and they were more than hospitable as he was certain they were just as confused as to how they were related. But when a distant Aunt from the South says they’re related, then you are related and must be given the full tour of the town. Bon Temps had an interesting history, particularly with the American Civil War, but he couldn’t quite shake off the feeling he was being watched. It wasn’t until an older woman had talked to him quietly while Sookie and Jason were busy deciding what to do next and ran to the Sheriff’s station to take care of something that he knew why. The woman was polite enough, but there was a definite air of judgment to the Stackhouse family. Whispers of being a mind reader and vampire whore was thrown about. Some things started to fall into place and he got a horrible feeling of déjà vu, back to his own childhood where in quiet corners would people talk of the strange Horan boy who knew more than he should.

The strange knowing was coming in full force, of Sookie’s childhood growing up alienated from the town because she had a strange ability no one understood.

She wasn’t like him, she was a mind reader. He wasn’t even sure what to call what he did as there wasn’t a formal name for it though. The closest he could think of was clairvoyant. Although, the reason for their powers still remained a mystery as all he got was bright lights.

He wondered what the best way to broach the subject would be, he tried not to think too loudly as he didn’t want to frighten his cousin. Suddenly his family lineage was the last thing on his mind as he spotted a familiar figure in a booth in the far corner of the restaurant playing Bejeweled Blitz.

“Yara?!”

Yara was lost in a world of exploding gems when she heard her name and she froze, if she needed to breathe she would have passed out from shock.

 

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Very Graphic Depiction of Violence. Please do not read if this type of thing upsets you. Please also be warned that the violence is directed at a member of 1D. 
> 
> For those who have already read, please accept my sincerest apologies for not making this warning more explicit when I first posted. I will try to be more vigilant and sensitive to those who may have trouble reading this type of writing in the future.

Of all the shit bars, in all the backwoods of Louisiana; how in the hell did Niall walk into hers?

Yara was known as the fasted vampire in known existence, but at the moment she was frozen in place; so dumbfounded that she was rendered immobile. In all her five hundred years, she had never been caught in the sun. Now the blond whatever he was with an equally confused blonde female companion was staring at her. The girl had a slight tilt to her head as if she were listing to something only she could hear; Niall tried to articulate several times but could not get the words out.

“ _How…why… **HOW** …is she out in the sunlight? Vampire…sunlight…evil twin?!_”

Those were the only coherent thoughts Sookie could hear from her newly found cousin Niall, and then got as bewildered as he was.

If his thoughts were true, then the harmless girl with a horrified “just caught with her hand in a cookie jar” look sitting in a booth with a cooling plate of chili cheese fries was a vampire.

Which otherwise couldn’t be true, but there was no mistake in his thoughts. They were coming in loud and clear.

Evil twin? Wouldn’t the vampire in the situation usually occupy that part of the story? And an exact look alike doppelganger of the vampire born several centuries later sounded like a poorly written teen tv show. Sookie tried to read the mind of the girl in front of them, see what he was freaking out about. But when all she felt was a dark void, something she only felt with vampires; she knew that Niall was right to be freaking out.

Yara’s initial thought was to kill everyone in the bar, including Niall. She wasn’t sure what else she could do, he was a threat to her secret. She couldn’t let her entire life be ruined by a mere child in a boyband, even if he was one of her lover’s closest friends. She’d make it look like an accident, she had done it enough times that it was almost rote to her.

Niall made the mistake of finding her in a hick town in the U.S. South. Plenty of hunting accidents with shotguns happened every year. Hell, she was sure she could even make it look like a hate crime. The area seemed ripe with xenophobia, homophobia, and every other bigoted phobia there could be had; there were plenty of rumors of the boys in every possible combination relationship with the other. All she had to do was pin it on the first hateful hillbilly she could find. Porsia, and most of the female population in the world, would be upset, but Catalina would understand. It wouldn’t be linked to her or the vampire cause. The world couldn’t blame her for Niall’s death if it looked to be human on human crime.

Plus, what could a vampire do to save a human during daylight hours? What was he even **doing** in Bon Temps without a body guard? The irony of her having to kill him wasn’t lost on her when she made a mental note to ream the werewolves out for letting Niall out by himself without protection.

Daylight, **clearly** , was not an excuse for slacking off.

The bar patrons would unfortunately die of a gas leak of some sort, kitchens were dangerous that way.

Niall grew pale as the plan unfolded in his mind. His cousin’s eyes widened as she heard what he was picking up on. Sookie didn’t know what to do, so in a panic she faced the vampire and held her hand close to her body; a strange glow started to emit from her palm, and Yara’s plans came to a halt.

“ _Fucking witches_ ,” Yara thought angrily to herself. That certainly put a pause to her plans. She had tangled with witches before, and she knew enough to tread carefully. If the girl had a coven in the area, and if they were any good at divining, then her plans were blown out of the water.

“Let’s all calm down now, alright?” Sookie said steadily, hoping no one was seeing the exchange. From a quick scan of the room, everyone’s minds were on their food or whatever personal turmoil they were dealing with. No one noticed the freaked out Irishman or his weird local telepath cousin.

Yara looked torn between taking out Niall’s companion, thinking she might be fast enough to avoid anything the blonde could throw at her. If the girl had a coven in the area, she decided, then she could hunt them out, snub out the entire town if she had to. It wouldn’t be the first time she made an entire village disappear.

Bon Temps would just be another Roanoke. She did what she had to then, and she would do it again.

Niall’s head started to hurt when all the information was coming at him, questions coming to him at lightning speed and answers supernaturally coming to him just as quickly. The question of what Yara had planned changing by the second as well as what she had done before. It was information overload and he had never experienced so much of it coming to him at once. Niall couldn’t believe how much a vampire could experience and do in their long lifetime. He had tried to clear his mind, let it wander to anything else and not question anything; but his impending doom wouldn’t let him, and his vampire bodyguard’s backup plans to back up plans were whirling around his mind; he found he couldn’t keep them out. An overwhelming sense of drowning started to take hold, and he thought he might pass out. If Yara didn’t kill him then he certainly felt like he would choke on his own air.

Yara’s charge was having a panic attack, she didn’t blame him but something peculiar was starting to happen to her. Her instincts were changing from “kill everyone and to protect herself at all costs” to wanting to comfort Niall. Something shifted in her blood, willing her to not snap his neck and give him a quick and painless death. She had never felt such a protective instinct before, other than towards Liam and Porsia; especially to someone who was a threat to her life.

“Hey Sookie! I didn’t think you had a shift today…everything alright here?” The perky red haired waitress asked, wondering why her friend was standing so stiffly around with two strangers in Merlotte’s on her day off.

Sookie’s hand quickly stopped glowing and her patented “airhead” smile threw off her friend to any sense of danger. Yara had her own dimwitted smile she employed when confronted with humans she needed to dupe, both never giving any hint that a mass murder was being contemplated.

“Everything is lovely, my friend is just having a little panic attack; keep the change,” Yara said as she got up and threw down a few bills to cover the cost of her food. The two got the hint and they followed her out. Arlene let out a squeal of happiness when she realized the girl left a hundred dollar tip. She forgot all about the strange exchange and later couldn’t even remember what the generous girl looked like, and hoped she would visit the bar again.

There was a nearby cemetery with no one in sight, the three gathered and contemplated the others. The vampire couldn’t believe what she was doing, but she found herself trying to sooth Niall and told him to take deep breaths.

Even though she didn’t need to breath, she started to inhale along with him get his breathing to match hers to hopefully calm him down. That was a bad idea since they were out in the fresh air and she caught a scent that made her mouth water and blood burn.

Suddenly Niall was forgotten and abruptly appeared in front of Sookie, before the telepath could even blink. The minder reader had never seen a vampire move so fast, and not the first time in her life had dropped fang in her face and a vampire on the verge of killing her.

Before Yara could sink her teeth into the girl’s supple neck, and drink deeply into the blood that was even more tempting than Niall’s, she was thrown several yards away by an unknown force.

The raven haired vampire landed against a tombstone and it crumbed to pieces under the impact. Several of her vertebrae were broken but pieced themselves together immediately, her healing ability not hindered under the sun.   

Her immobility and the excruciating pain was able to knock her out of her crazed stupor, and she realized what she had done. She saw the girl raise her hands in defense, the same glow pulsating with power. The one the waitress called Sookie was fully prepared to put Yara down.

She was more than a witch, that much was apparent. But apparently too stupid to run away as any other sane person would do. Instead the girl stood fast and tried to help her kin.

Although still recovering, her mind put pieces of the puzzle together. The girl’s smell reminded her of Niall, only more potent. The singer momentarily forgot he was having a panic attack, and stood in awe; never having witness such a thing and realized his cousin was more “special” than first thought.

The girl was powerful, but Yara was resourceful. She took advantage of both humans’ shock and grabbed a chunk of the tombstone then chucked it at the girl. She might not be able to get close but she could still throw things at supernatural strength. When the small boulder made contact with the telepath, a sickening crunch could be heard and she landed on her back; the breath knocked out of her and internal hemorrhaging making her gag on her own blood.

Yara got up, her healing complete and her mind a bit more put together. With the siren song of the girl’s blood, it took all of her self-control to refrain from drinking deeply. She needed to kill the girl, and kill her quick. Who knew what other powers she might have, Yara had seen witches with healing abilities; she didn’t want to be caught off guard again.

Niall saw that Yara was going in for the kill again, he placed himself in front of his cousin. Hoping to appeal to his friend. Not even fully sure why she was bent on killing them when he thought they were friends, but he didn’t know what else to do and was desperate.

“Please Yara, don’t do this,” he begged and went to his knees, pride going out the door when his life was on the line. Tears streaming down his face, and hoping his cousin could hold on.

There were very few times in her long lifetime that Yara ever felt guilty for having to kill. She never broke a sweat killing in the Elizabethan era and courtiers, nor anytime she needed to feed; noble or peasant. She was a predator, and she did what predators had to do.  

But Niall was her friend, and she was meant to protect him. Despite never wanting the job in the first place, each member of One Direction had wormed their way into her heart; some deeper than others but they were all decent guys that she had gotten to know over the months.

Although she knew better, and every instinct told her to not hesitate and go for the kill, she found herself holding back and having an internal battle at what to do.

Yara could hear Sookie’s heart slowing down, and her body starting to shut down. She also sensed that she had traces of vampire blood inside her, so someone was going to miss her. Their connection probably alerting said vampire that their pet was in danger. Thankfully it was in the middle of the day, so even if the vampire was awoken from a dead sleep; there was nothing they could do about it.

 “This isn’t personal, Niall…I’m sorry,” she meant with a heavy heart. She didn’t know what else to do. Both knew she was a vampire that could walk in daylight. If it were to be known to the public, it would damn her in both the human and vampire world. It would be all the proof the magistrate, or whatever Authority lackey they sent, would need to condemn her to the True Death. If the humans got their hands on her, who knew what they would do. She could see a global uproar, making humans even more afraid and paranoid of their kind.

True Death was the best case scenario in her situation. She wouldn’t doubt that if her Maker’s children couldn’t get their justice, then she would be the mercy of the Authority or some other powerful elder to find out exactly **how** could she walk in daylight. There were plenty of vampires who wished to return to the sun and not burn.

They would have questions she didn’t have answers to; she shuddered to think of what they would do to have those questions answered when they didn’t believe she didn’t know.

The same pull that told her to drink his blood also pushed against her from killing him. She thought maybe it was their own blood bond, the few drops she gave him a couple months ago to protect him from her kind. Something told her it was more than that, though. Her gut instinct told her that whatever was protecting Niall, it was something ancient and ingrained.

 “You don’t have to do this, we can keep a secret. Just let me and me cousin live. She doesn’t know who you are…we can find another vampire to glamour her…to glamour us…whatever it takes. We can tell them to just erase the day. No need to say what they’re erasin’. Liam doesn’t have to know…please no one has to know anythin’,” he raddled off, desperate to save his and Sookie’s life.

Sookie was his family, which explained the familiar irresistible scent. She wondered if he had some sort of latent instinctual magical ability that instilled a protective drive in others. It would explain why the other boys always seemed to naturally guard him, or why the fans never directed their fickle ire towards him; even when he slept with another musician’s lover; if any of the others had done it, it would have brought a tornado of hate upon them.

Niall’s plan wasn’t terrible. There was only one vampire she had ever trusted, and that was Catalina. The vampire Queen was the only other person in the world who knew of her ability. Paid her handsomely to take advantage of it and take out pretenders to her thrown, or whatever political enemy she had. But it would be hours before the Queen would be able to be spoken to, days for her to get to New Orleans. That was simply too much time where he or the girl could betray her, even if they didn’t want to. Vampires had their ways of making people talk; vampires much more powerful than her, and vastly more adept at their torturing skills and knew how to glamour.

She hated that he brought up Liam, knowing that if he were there now he’d be horrified at what she was doing. Then her resolved strengthened, thinking that she was not only protecting herself but her doe eyed singer as well. They could easily use him to get to her, she would break the instant she failed to protect him.

Her will to live and protect Liam took over in a tidal wave, urging her to do whatever it took to protect the one she loved. Niall was no longer the sweet Irish goofball in a successful boyband. He was a threat to her and Liam, to the life she wanted with him.

Whatever hold he had on her fell, she rushed to him and the next thing he knew he tasted blood in his mouth, the crimson liquid seeping out and down his chin. She was in front of him, regret in her eyes. He blinked, not sure what was happening and he wasn’t even sure if what he felt was pain, everything had happened so fast; he looked down and saw her hand wrist deep in his gut.

“It’ll be over soon.”

She wasn’t sure why she said that. It wasn’t comforting in the least, and from his eyes she could see the betrayal he felt.

For the first time in her life, she felt the painful twist of guilt wreck her insides and she wanted nothing more than to take it all back. She wished she could start the day again, leave Clover in her coffin; maybe make a complaint to King Bill that one of his citizens was threatening official property of a Sheriff of another monarch. Or maybe she should have just ran from Bon Temps to New Orleans. It was quite the distance, but it could have been done. Why did she go the lazy route and want to take the bus then wait in that damned sports bar?

There were several different ways the day could have gone, but there she was; wrist deep in her friend’s midsection and waiting for him to die.

He didn’t deserve this; she didn’t even know why she was so protective of her undead life. She didn’t ask to be made and she on more than one occasion lamented about the lonely existence.

She couldn’t blame it on Liam, she wasn’t that romantic. She had plenty of opportunities to end the life she claimed she hated. But she could never bring herself to end it, and she could never let anyone else have that honor.

She wished she would just break his neck, get it over with. Definitely more of a mercy, still unsure what was stopping her but it was a near miracle she was able to impale him to begin with.

The magic that flowed through his family was strong.

But she was stronger, she would survive and she would endure.

The light started to dim from his eyes and his body droop, no longer strong enough to keep himself erect. The girl was still hanging on; Yara admired her fighting spirit. She wondered if the vampire blood in her was also a curse; it could heal even grievous wounds and Yara was told an aphrodisiac of the highest grade. But in this case, it appeared to be prolonging the girl’s suffering as it made her hardier but not enough to save her life.

Yara could no longer look at the two, closed her eyes and hoped it would be over soon. She still had an entire bar of people to kill.

Her thoughts were interrupted with a text. Even though the circumstances were dire, only a few people had her number and any text or call was likely important.

**I know ur asleep but I wanted to let u know I luv an miss u**

Sweet Liam, and her guilt increased tenfold. Niall was one of his best friends. His bandmate and a brother who had been with him on the wild ride of fame.

Thinking of dear Liam; his hard childhood of growing up with bullies and his heartbreaking tale of throwing a 16th birthday party to which no one came. His world of friends made even smaller with the advent of his fame, with vultures and fakes around every corner. There were really only four other people in the entire world who would know what he was going through and truly understand.

She was about to trim that number down to three.

At first she thought that Liam would get over his friend’s death. With eternal life and time healing all wounds, it would only be a matter of time before Niall faded from his memory. It may take decades or even centuries, they had all time in the world. But in that moment she had to really think things through, she knew how incredibly stupid that was. Liam felt deeply and he cared more about others than she had ever seen in anyone. He was a genuinely compassionate person, he hated when he couldn’t make everyone happy and he tried so hard to. The type to build youth centers in his community; to apologize to fans if he ran out of time to sign autographs and take pictures. It was one of the many things she loved about him.

He was the kindhearted human she wished she could be. He had trusted in her, trusted that her love for him and ability to be noble wasn’t just pretending.

No, he would remember his friend for the rest of his life; which would be a very long time when he became a vampire.

Could she lie to him for eternity? Could she live with herself knowing how much this would hurt him and she was the cause? How could she kill his brother? How could she hurt someone she loved in such a way?

True Death or a lifetime under a microscope in a human research facility had to be better than the poisonous twisted feeling that occurred when she thought of his tears and hurting over his friend, and that she would be the cause of it.

She made up her mind, Liam was more important. She would always protect him, even from herself.

She removed her hand from Niall’s stomach, unable to resist a taste she suckled her fingers. Her world was suddenly starbursts and sunshine; she had never tasted anything so delicious. With a burst of energy from fresh blood, her fangs descended she tore at both her wrists. She fed the viscous red fluid to both humans as they hung onto dear life.

The both drank from her greedily, the magic of her blood already closing their wounds and mending them back together.  

As they lapped at her blood, enjoying the high it was giving them; Yara for a second she felt slightly disgusted with herself. Was she really risking her life for a boy?

Liam’s smiling face popped into her head and she rolled her eyes. For that wonderful ball of sunshine and happiness, yes she was.

When she felt they both had enough, she removed her wrists and let her hands heal. The two still on the ground, breathing deeply and in relief as their injuries were now a thing of the past. Both chose not to get up too quickly, not believe what had happened in the last five minutes. Yara wondered what she was going to do.

So far all she had was: save Niall and his cousin, don’t upset Liam. How exactly to save her life, that was still a pending matter. She was certain they would be less than enthused with her and probably less willing to help her, especially given how a minute ago she was willing to kill them both.

Before the two could get their bearings, she knocked the two out cold with well-placed knock to the head. She made sure to do it lightly enough that they would survive, but hard enough to render them unconscious.

She was certain she’d be able to think better if they weren’t in an indignant rage or begging for their lives.

 


	12. Chapter 12

With discretion out the door, Yara hotwired a car from Merlotte’s parking lot and stowed away her two hostages; she made it to New Orleans in record time and snuck all three of them to her room. Sookie came-to soon after she was unceremoniously dumped onto the bed, and Yara paced the room; wondering what she should do next.

She realized she wasn’t in the cemetery any longer but still with the vampire that almost killed her.

“Niall help!” Sookie screamed for her grandfather, confusing Yara as to why she would ask for help from someone who was clearly unconscious. Her question was answered when a transparent vortex appeared in the middle of her luxurious room, and out stepped a devilishly handsome man in his early thirties. Yara’s eyes widen, and she was pretty certain not even witches were capable of such a feat. She learned her lesson from Sookie, and in the blink of an eye she hog tied both with rope she always had handy, BDSM jokes aside.

Yara wasn’t sure who the guy was, but she did notice he did not have the same alluring scent Sookie and Niall had. She assumed he was part of the coven or whatever Sookie was part of, she wondered who else could just appear out of nowhere.

She grabbed the handsome witch by the throat, threatening to crush it with impunity if he tried anything.

“I don’t know who or what you are, but if you try anything or scream I will not hesitate to rip your throat out and blame the mess on spilled Tru Blood; are we clear?”

He didn’t cower in fear as she thought he would, but he nodded his acquiescence. Despite being a royal fae, there were limits to his powers and even he was prudent enough to assess the situation rather than start throwing his Light around.

In the commotion, Niall from One Direction groggily got up and wondered why his head was pounding. Did he have too much to drink? The last thing he remembered was having a horrible dream where Yara was trying to kill him…

His eyes enlarged when he took in the scene before him. His cousin Sookie and another male were tied up in what looked like a room at the hotel they were staying at in New Orleans. He got up quickly, that was his first mistake. The room started to spin as the blood rushed from his head. Yara was next to him in an instant, an ice pack in her hand from the mini fridge the hotel provided and she placed it to his head.

“You need to take it easy Niall, I gave you quite the bump.”

Once the room stopped acting as if he were in a tilt-a-whirl, he would figure out how Yara could go from trying to kill him to acting as a concerned nurse. 

The vampire wasn’t surprised her charge flinched away from her, but he didn’t have much choice but to accept her care as he was in no condition to refuse. Despite a couple hours in a car with nothing but her thoughts, she was no closer to coming up with a solution. Her best bet was still to kill them all. It was even more inconvenient now there was a third party involved, one who had magical powers to boot. Three bodies to dispose of…well two and a third to make look like an accident. Niall was a public figure, someone would want some sort of explanation. The other two could disappear, and she doubt anyone would make it national news to look for them.

“Yara, stop plotting my death. It’s giving me a headache,” Niall said weakly, she was disconcerted that he could tell what she was planning.

“Ah, so you’re Siobhan’s boy,” the male who appeared out of nowhere stated, appraising his great-grandson while tied up.

“Are you another cousin?” he asked, thinking the other male knew about his great-grandmother but didn’t look up, enjoying the ice that soothed his throbbing headache. His powers not working on him as it didn’t with Sookie or himself when he wanted to know something.  

“No, I’m your great grandfather.”

That got Niall’s attention, forgetting he had a migraine and he sat up and stared at the man who looked no older than early 40’s. Nowhere near old enough to be his great-grandfather. Even with all the surprises that day, he still wasn’t ready to accept such a farfetched idea easily.

A vision appeared before him, a beautiful woman with a 40’s coiffed hairdo and a simple black dress, smiling at him as if he were the most important person in the world. He looked to a nearby mirror and he saw a stranger’s reflection; a beautiful blond male that he shared a smile with and he sang an old Irish love song to her.

His powers would, however, work on his human family.

He knew it was grandmother Siobhan, and now he knew grandpa Conner was not his actual grandfather.

“My son Aengus, fell in love with Siobhan. Lasted longer than I thought it would, but with every time a fae falls for a human, it ends tragically.”

Yara frowned at him, what he said sinking in but not quite getting through to her brain. She understood perfectly what he said but was unable to process it as it was such a foreign concept to her.

“Pardon, did you say ‘fae’?”

“Yes, vampire,” he all but snarled at her, spitting out the term as if it were a particularly bitter poison in his mouth. He didn’t seem to notice, or perhaps he didn’t care, the dark edge to her question.

She ignored his obvious disdain and inquired further.

“As in fairy?”

“One of many names for my kind.”

“Why don’t you smell like them?” she referred to Sookie and Niall. If what he was saying was true and from what she could infer from the converation, then he should be just as irresistible if not more so if he were a full blooded fairy.

“I know the secret of masking my scent from monsters such as you.”

“Wouldn’t that be a good secret to share with your kin? It certainly would have saved Niall from a lot of trouble.”

She was bordering on livid, if only Niall could have masked his scent then this whole debacle never would have happened and saved them all from the issues at hand.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you, **parasite** , but it is a talent that comes from centuries of practice and a power they do not have.” How **dare** she insinuate he selfishly kept the ability to mask their scent from his blood. As if he didn’t wish it was something all fae could do, how many fairy lives would be saved if they didn’t attract the vile creatures known as vampires.

Suddenly all the rumors she had ever heard had come to the forefront. Rumors of their beauty, their powers, and most importantly: their supposed ability for them to turn human.

The younger Niall shot up straight and stood between the other male and Yara. He could feel the danger radiating from the vampire. He had so many questions; he had only gotten a hint of where his powers had come from. What did it mean to be part fae, and why was he the only one in his family that was different?

Echoes of crying himself at night, wondering why he was so different and no one to understand him reverberated through his heart; but those questions would have to wait. Yara was far more murderous than he gave her credit for. He found himself wishing he had sided with Louis when his bandmate didn’t want a vampire bodyguard. 

“Remember what happened the last time you stood before me?” Yara said with a sinister edge. She wouldn’t kill Niall, but there were two other of his kind that could get her heart’s desire. For centuries she had looked for a cure to vampirism. Each country she had visited had promises that were nothing but dust in the wind. Traveling the world had come up with nothing, even with a second tour to every country and every village to make sure she didn’t miss something the first time around; she found nothing but myths, rumors, and legends. The only common story she heard from the supernatural community was that fairies’ blood had an effect on vampires. Some said it was an ultimate aphrodisiac, but they said that about baby and virgin blood as well. But others whispered with a quiet hope that it would return them to the sun. Fantastic stories of how it made their heart beat again, a return to the sun was a return to humanity.

With the almost reverent way they spoke about it, the hope they all carried within them she knew she wasn’t the only one who hated being a vampire. She did not choose to live in the darkness, in a life without end, and she would do almost anything to make things right.

“What you want, no one can **_ever_** give you,” Niall said, more serious he had ever been in his life.

Yara flinched as if he had hit her, not used to the severe tone in his voice; the happy-go-lucky Irishman never speaking as such. Although nothing had ever come of her research, she always held hope. She was only five-hundred something, she had centuries more to live. If she had an endless amount of time, a cure **_had_** to exist somewhere; right? If not in the supernatural, then perhaps in science. No one could ever have thought going to space was possible, but a mere hundred years after the first flight man had stepped onto the moon. No one would ever believe they’d find a viable substitute for blood even a decade ago, but Tru Blood was the most popular brand and as common as Coca-Cola.

Now there was a fairy, an actual damn fairy in her midst and it had to work. She wouldn’t have to take Liam from the light and damn him to an eternity in darkness. They could grow old and return to the earth, allowing new life to take their place; how nature and the gods intended.

Fae blood had to work, Liam would be twenty-five in a handful of years; it wouldn’t be enough time for science to find a cure. She needed it so she could spare her love the curse of darkness, she couldn’t bear the thought of how being a vampire would warp the sweet and kind human.

“You know I’m telling the truth, you can smell it on me,” Niall asserted, sensing her internal struggle. He wouldn’t let her kill anyone, he pressed into her mind. He wasn’t sure where he got the idea, but something inside himself was being released. The things that made him different, he was tapping into. Something ancient and potent, something he had worked his whole life trying to suppress he was letting out in full force.

The elder Niall was impressed with his grandson, the blood of his son Aengus ran strong in him. One of the more open and infamous fae, his son had managed to make it into human folklore; gaining notoriety as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann; Irish pantheon of gods and goddesses. Aengus was noted for being the god of love, he had power to inspire a fervent loyalty. It caused people to become protective of his person, even if they didn’t particularly like him.

It was the only way such a rake as Aengus could survive when he bedded so many women, particularly since a good portion of them already had husbands.

The normally swift Yara fell under Niall’s spell, once again finding herself hesitating when she could have killed a room full of people in less than a breath span.

The vampire fought back blood tears as she could tell Niall was telling the truth. Fairies were another dead end, and she could not gain back her humanity.

Niall took the opportunity to run the idea home,

“No matter what science humans or vampires come up with, being a vampire is who you are. It’s not a virus, it’s not a curse; it’s your blood and bone. It’s your truth.”

A sudden melancholy overtook Yara as Niall’s words and magic sank in, leaving an empty space in their wake. The fight left her, and suddenly surviving was no longer the most important thing; nothing seemed all that significant anymore. He could see it in her eyes, and feel it in his powers. Yara was accepting the truth it took her centuries to admit.

She was a vampire, and until her True Death she would always be one. Five-hundred years of wasting her time and nothing to look forward to.

“All fairy blood will do is let vampires walk into the Sun, and temporarily at that,” Niall said as the information was coming to him. Visions of a tall Viking-esque vampire walking outside a seedy night club, experiencing the sun for the first time in a millennium.

Unbeknownst to either of them, both Sookie and the other Niall were managing to escape from their confines; both using their Light to burn away the ropes, thankful that the vampire was distracted.

Although Prince Niall of the Sky Fairies was more than several millennia old, it was Sookie who rose to the occasion and put the vampire out on her ass.

Human Niall scrunched his body close and jumped a few inches, frightened by the sudden light that was hurled centimeters from his head and into his bodyguard. The room was then chaos, and he irrationally wondered if the patrons next door could hear them.

He’d hate for One Direction to get a bad reputation as poor hotel guests.

The elder fae waved his hands and spoke a language Niall wasn’t familiar with; suddenly silver chains had wrapped themselves around Yara, an audible hissing emitted from the contact and the vampire cried in pain as the metal seared her skin.

As the chains dug themselves into her flesh and burned the top couple layers of dermis, crimson tears ran down her face and her fangs protruded from her mouth in instinctual defense. The vampire lie on the floor practically motionless, the magic of the silver feeling as though she were stuck under an immovable rock despite the chain only weighing a couple of pounds. Only her head and extremities able to move, wanting desperately to stop the agonizing pain.

Dabbling with fairies that could obviously wield magic, probably not her brightest idea and would most likely be the True Death of her.

Of all the ways she thought she would die, death by fairies was not even in the top ten and part of her was rather embarrassed at the thought.

She would miss Liam; thankful at least that he wasn’t turned and hopefully never would be. He’d get over her; probably with Sophia. The human girl was lovely; he deserved to be happy in the sun. The brunette was a stunner and would look great next to him on the red carpet; many other maudlin thoughts invaded her mind as she started to accept her fate and quickly went through her existential crisis.

“At least silver still hurts, bitch,” Sookie said spitefully at the immobile vampire, glad she had at least one typical vulnerability. Angry that yet another undead sonovabitch thought they could _kill_ her all willy nilly. She was tired of being a supernatural punching bag, and she wasn’t going to **take** it anymore.

Sookie summoned her Light, the iridescent ball swirling in a rainbow of colors in her hand, giving off a violet glow in the dim light of the hotel room. She could do it, she could end this one insignificant vampire with every last bit of her Light and it’d be over. She’d be fully human, no more fairy drama. She wouldn’t have that irresistible allure or scent that attracted vampires to her like undead catnip.

The telepath was further enraged when the vampire didn’t even have the decency to look scared for her undead life. Yara, she thought she remembered her cousin called her, simply looked bored and resigned to her destiny.

Was it too much for at least **one** vampire to cower before her? While she admitted fairies were kind of lame, she was holding a bright vampire death ball in her hand. That at least deserved a tremor of fear.

“It wasn’t personal,” Yara tried to explain through the pain and as calmly as someone who would be begging for death if she didn’t hold so much pride.

“It certainly felt personal with the broken ribs and internal bleeding.”

“There’s a Fellowship of the Sun pendant in my suitcase, front pocket. Leave it in my hand. When they find it in the muck, they’ll think it’s a hate crime.”  
  
Now Sookie was just confused, was the vampire giving her advice on how to frame the crime on the fundamentalist Christian cult?

Without letting her Light down, she went in search for the piece of jewelry. It was where Yara said it would be; a simple pure silver chain and a Celtic trinity knot with a sunburst in the middle of the pendant. She had enough run in with the notorious vampire hate group top easily recognize their sigil.

What was a vampire doing with it? Better question, how did she get her hands on a pendant only given to high status members? Most notably those weirdos from the Light of Day Institute.

“Where would you even get this?”

“Werewolf buddy of mine in Maryland supplies them with all the silver, designs everything from pendants to cufflinks. Lupe likes the irony.”

Despite being near death, Yara couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of a Fellowship member realizing their precious silver pendants came from the supernatural community; and furthermore, gave extras to Yara to blame vampire deaths on them.

“Sookie, think about what you’re doing.”

“Cuz, don’t do this.”

Both Nialls warned her, finally finding their voices after all the commotion. Prince Niall didn’t want to lose his granddaughter and last link to his son Fintan. He couldn’t bear one of the last of his fairy kin to lose their Light. So many of them had perished, even though Sookie’s blood would no longer be attractive to vampires, they were still a danger and would always be; to fairies and humans alike. It would be better that she had a way to protect herself.

Human Niall simply wanted the violence to end. While he wasn’t Yara’s fond of her at the moment, he also didn’t want her to die. There had to be another way, a better way than someone having to perish.

“Everyone just needs to calm **down** ,” Niall said to his cousin and his great grandfather, which would be something he didn’t think he could ever get over. He wondered if his mother knew, did anyone know?

“He’s right, we can kill her with a simple piece of wood. Break that chair, no need to spend your Light,” the prince tried to say helpfully, and pointed to an unassuming chair the hotel provided.

“ ** _No_**. No death by overpriced furniture or…magic…fireball…sparkly…orb…thing,” Niall gestured with his hands towards Sookie, not entirely sure what her deal was but at the moment was just **done** with everything. He could deal with it all later, but that moment he just wanted everyone to stop being so trigger happy.  

“How do you suggest we kill her?” Prince Niall asked condescendingly.

“I’m saying we don’t. No one needs to die,” Niall insisted.

The fairy prince looked befuddled and then down to the vampire, his inquiring face clearly asking Yara “ _What? Is he new_?”

She rolled her eyes, exasperated to no end. She had mere hours ago tried to kill him, and only by dumb luck and supernatural powers he had no control over did he survive.

What kind of idiot would try to save their would-be murderer?

“ _The sweet kind that Liam attracted_ ,” a small human voice filtered in and she softened her face to Niall. Suddenly feeling sorry for him. He wasn’t meant for the supernatural life. It was too dark and harsh…much like his handsome brother. None of this was his fault and he was doing his best, if not in a completely naïve way, trying to deal with it all.

“Niall…” Sookie started but then realized that both her cousin and great-grandfather had the same name as they both responded and stared at her; neither sure who she was speaking to.

“OK, we’re goin’ to have to give one of you a nickname.”

“My dear, I am a prince of the Sky Fae of House Brigant. We do not have ‘nicknames.’”

Sookie suppressed her eye roll, her grandmother taught her better than that. But she looked to her cousin, and expected him to provide a suitable differentiating name.

“I…Nialler?” he said with an inflection, not entirely certain of the nickname given it wasn’t that far off from his actual name. But under the circumstances, he thought coming up with **anything** on such short notice was nothing short of a miracle.

Irritation plumed from inside his chest, not appreciating the frustrated looks from his cousin or his supposed great-grandfather.

“Forget about nicknames, I doubt we’ll be wantin’ a family reunion anytime soon after this. We aren’t killin’ her,” Niall told them both, finality in his voice not allowing any room for argument.

“Then what do you supposed we do with her?” Prince Niall questioned. They couldn’t very well keep her in the hotel indefinitely. Perhaps his grandson would be open to burying her alive in the courtyard. He rather liked the thought of her starving to death slowly in the cold ground rather than the relatively quick end of a stake through the heart.

“No, we aren’t buryin’ her in the garden,” Niall sensing his grandfather’s plan as his powers started to grow, the elder Niall rolled his eyes; this grandson was not turning out as ruthless as he would hope a child of his seed would have been.

Sookie frowned, not liking the apparently unspoken conversation going on. She wondered if that’s how most people felt about her when she was reading minds.

Yara wished they’d stop bickering and just get it over with. The silver was still smoldering her skin and she didn’t think vampires went into numbing shock. The chains would continue to hurt until she met the True Death.

Perhaps she deserved to suffer since she almost killed Niall and Sookie. Yara frowned at the sharp pangs of what she could only assume was guilt, a feeling she wasn’t familiar with and didn’t particularly care for.

“We need a plan that doesn’t involve killin’ anyone .Come on, there has to be some other option.”

“I’m sure if we ask nicely, the vampire will promise not to hurt us ever again. Then we can go skipping into the sunset while holding hands.”

Neither grandchild was amused by their grandfather’s sarcasm.

“Who is this vampire anyway? Why did she try to kill you?” Prince Niall asked, realizing he had no idea what situation led them all there. He also realized it was late afternoon, the last time he sensed Sookie, she was in Bon Temps. What business did she have in New Orleans and why would she visit this particular vampire? He knew she had an unnatural and borderline death wish attraction to vampires, but as far as he was aware she was not attracted to women. Was she visiting her cousin? He could admit to himself that Aengus was not his favorite son so he didn’t keep tabs on any human progeny his errant son sired. He didn’t know much of anything about this particular grandson, though the fact he had powers; Prince Niall could see in hindsight that was a mistake.

“She’s my bodyguard,” Niall replied. Prince Niall frowned and looked at all of them as if they had gone completely insane.

“Hate to tell you, don’t think it’s working out,” he quipped out drolly.

Niall rolled his eyes and realized how ridiculous it did sound. In any other situation he would have laughed at the irony of it, but almost dying took the humor out of pretty much everything for the foreseeable future.

He then took a deep breath and explained the situation. Once it was out in the open, he felt he had a better handle on it.

Niall’s eyes squinted suspiciously at the injured vampire, instantly not trusting her ability to daywalk.

“Are you Warlow’s progeny? Did he send you for Sookie?”

“Who?”

“Your Maker, who is your Maker?” Niall was losing patience, ready to kill the vampire; not caring what his grandson wanted.

“Some Spanish asshole who liked to hoard progeny. Benicio twelve last names, I never memorized them.”

“How is it that you can daywalk?” he pressed further, not believing her.

“Good question, don’t know.”

“Grandson, use your powers.”

Niall blinked and acquiesced, he was curious as well but wondered if it was too dangerous to know. If he knew, what vampire in the future would have no problem torturing him for that valuable knowledge?

 His worries were moot as no answer presented itself. He told his grandfather such and confirmed that her Maker was not named “Warlow.”

“So what were you doing in Bon Temps?” the prince asked her, a little too calm for discovering a vampire who could walk in sunlight, Yara felt. She wondered who the hell Warlow was and what did he have to do with day walking.

If there were more than one day walking vampire, that would not bode well for anyone. There would be frenzy to find more if one presented themselves. She used to be able to trust that no one would ever find out about her, but it may not matter if she were to be staked in the next few moments.

“Does it really matter?” she muttered out, deciding to give attitude and work through the pain of silver that was **still** burning through her.

Sookie wondered the same thing. Who cared why the vampire was in her neck of the woods, in the end, she tried to kill them all.

It was important to the fairy prince because it was just one more vampire that was attracted to the supernatural hotspot. He needed to know if Yara was just one of many vampires who wanted Sookie for her gift. And how did his grandson fit into all of it? Everything would be made worse because the one weakness vampires had that no one else did was their vulnerability to sunlight. If Warlow or this other vampire ever shared that secret, there would be no end to the carnage the abhorrent creatures would wreak on the world.

Niall wanted to know as well, at first it looked like pure coincidence he happened upon her. Particularly the surprised look she donned when she realized who said her name. She looked like a person who thought Merlotte’s would be the last place she would ever see him.

Yara still refused to answer, and he remembered Liam saying something about Yara having private business to attend to in Shreveport, which was about an hour northeast of Bon Temps.

The sweet smiling face of one of his best friends popped into his head, and the sudden worry of what he was going to do about him squeezed his heart until he thought it was going to explode in his chest.

“ _Jesus, what am I going to do about Liam? Do I tell him his girlfriend is a murderous fiend?_ ” Niall quickly wondered as his thoughts were derailed. As quickly as the thought came, he squashed it down as a “thing to worry about later as we have a killer vampire to deal with now” thing to file away. He forced himself to ignore how hurt he knew his friend was going to be and dealt with the situation at hand.

Yara was not forthcoming so he practiced with his power some more, he asked the question himself and the story started to slowly unfurl.

He saw her in a seedy gothic nightclub, exchanging barbs with a severe looking blonde. She was frustrated at being stood up and dismissed herself. Then there was a run in with another vampire, the name Clove whispering in his mind. There were several strung out and nervous people surrounding her, an uncomfortable feeling shooting up his body as it told him these were dangerous. They all held the same coiled predator ready to strike vibe that all vampires had but it was different somehow. Their new bodyguards was the closest he could compare the feeling to.

The vampire made threats against him and the band. It was simple as that. Yara killed the vampire and all her lackeys for daring to threaten her charges.

“You killed them to protect us,” Niall said quietly, it was only by superior vampire hearing did Yara discern what he whispered.

It was clear to her that Niall was little more than clairvoyant, and she knew more than anyone that knowledge could be a powerful and deadly thing. What was learned could not be unlearned, and she felt if he found out anymore it would be overwhelming.

“I suggest you stop there,” she warned. He didn’t need to know the specifics, and she wanted to protect him from knowing exactly how dark, ruthless, and evil her kind could be.

But it was too late, his mind had already asked the question of how dangerous the other vampire could have been.

Visions of exactly what Clove had in mind for them played out in his mind. The revelation of werewolves were nothing compared to the hell Louis was destined for if Yara had not intervened.

Seeing what would happen to his brother proved too much as bile rose from his stomach, and he emptied its contents into the thankfully near rubbish bin. Both Sookie and their grandfather rushed to his aide, wondering what he could have seen to get such a reaction. When he started to dry heave, his stomach no longer proving anything to vomit, he could only shake; fear and a myriad of emotions he couldn’t name as he had never been exposed to such horrible things.

“Oh my God…she was going to…Louis…sweet Jesus…” was all he could slur out, his thoughts unable to process everything in a clear and concise way. Sookie caught the thoughts that ran through Niall, and although she had seen her fair share of the atrocities vampires could inflict, even she flinched and teared up at what her cousin was witnessing.

“We can’t kill her…we need her…” Niall forced out. He wasn’t happy with Yara nor was he 100% sure he felt safe around her; but he knew without a doubt there were far worse vampires out there, and she was one of the few who would risk anything to save them. Furthermore she had means of getting rid of unsavory elements that no other vampire had.

Prince Niall nearly threw up his hands in exasperation, not sure what it was about this particular generation of his family that was so enamored with dark creatures that wanted to kill them. He also knew about another granddaughter who had bonded with the late queen of Louisiana. The girl was purely human, she didn’t even have the unique allure Jason had; Niall never even bothered to learn her name, but she bore a child with the same mind reading abilities as Sookie. Jason went through periods of loving vampires and despising them. Getting into bed with them one moment and then joining a fanatic cult to kill them the next.   

“If anyone has any bright ideas of how we can let the vampire go and trust her, I’m all ears as the humans like to say.”

That was the predicament they found themselves in. One Direction needed Yara’s protection, even more so since she clearly had the advantage of being able to walk in the day. Why she could was evading the younger Niall, but at the moment he was thankful as he was done messing with his powers for the near future.

“Fairy contract,” Sookie blurted out, unsure if it was even remotely viable. She knew she had an ancestor that had signed one with Warlow. She wasn’t Yara’s biggest fan either, but she could appreciate the trouble she went through in order to protect Niall. Thinking upon things more, she could **_slightly_** understand the vampire’s gut reaction to kill those who found out her secret. A vampire who could walk in daylight? She knew more than a few who would kill to have such powers, and Yara was not safe from either humans or vampires wanting to know that secret. All the recent debacles with Russell Edgington, Sophie-Anne Leclerq, and others came to mind when it came to their desire to walk in the sun.

She still didn’t like Yara, but she could understand what happened.

Prince Niall looked reluctant, seeing how the last fairy contract has played out so far.

He could kill John Stackhouse for signing it and making the deal for the next fae female heiress to present herself and wed Macklyn Warlow.

The idea had its merits, however. The contract concerning Sookie was thankfully not binding to her and the Stackhouse elder was long gone and therefore Warlow could not use its powers to enforce its agreement. If Sookie had been born within John Stackhouse’s lifetime, he was certain the patriarch would have simply put familial pressure onto her as if it were any other arranged marriage. If she had been stubborn, then the magic of the contract would have forced John’s hand and Niall didn’t to think of what the man would have resorted to.

“Still here in great pain if anyone cares,” Yara said dryly as the three talked amongst themselves, wondering what the hell they were going on about. Honestly, how long did it take to decide to put down a vicious killer? They could have killed her and cleaned up by then if they weren’t clucking along like a bunch of gossipy hens.

“Not really,” Sookie replied, still smarting from her near death experience.

Yara smiled, she liked Sookie. She liked the sassy fairy and could respect when she was beaten.

“This is what will happen. You will agree to certain terms and sign this contract in blood,” Prince Niall spoke in a businesslike manner, mouthing something she couldn’t figure out as he wrote things down.

“That’s the hotel notepad,” Yara quipped, not really sure how binding something could be when handwritten with a cheap Bic and hotel stationary.

“Don’t worry about that, just let me prick your finger and press it against here,” he instructed as he brandished the paper to her prone form.

“I’m aware you might be older than fuck, but I wasn’t created yesterday. I’m not signing anything without reading it.”

Niall rolled his eyes and adjusted the paper so she could read its contents. Her eyes quickly grazed over the paper and was able to make a decision.

“Now that I’ve read what I can only assume is your horrendous fairy English hybrid chicken scratch, please go fuck yourself.”

The Prince was appalled on several levels, never (not even with vampires) had he been spoken to thusly in all his millennia of living.

She didn’t understand what his problem was, she said “please.”

Yara didn’t care she was bound in silver, and had been for the past hour or so, and was on True Death’s door. She wasn’t going to sign what could be a very long life away, and certainly not “in perpetuity” since Niall could become a vampire himself. She certainly wasn’t going to add Sookie to the mix.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to negotiate.”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to do anything but to go fuck yourself.”

The merely glared at each other and Niall finally broke the tension.

“For fuck’s sake. Just negotiate,” he commanded the both of them. Prince Niall petulantly relented and the two started to discuss terms.

“First of all, take out the in perpetuity clause. Even if Niall doesn’t become a vampire I’m not wasting a good portion of my life in case you fae live centuries or longer.”

“He would never turn himself into one of you vile beings,” he said with such certainty, no one of his blood will ever turn to darkness. He’d rather see them die than turn vampire. “He will always be in danger of your kind, you owe him…”

“I owe him shit. Place a termination clause of whenever One Direction breaks up plus ten years with the understanding that he’d be living with me and not the other way around. That should be enough time for people to grow apathetic and to outgrow his boyish looks. Sooner if he gets fat.”

“Hey!” the crooner said, slightly offended at the insinuation he would become a nobody that even vampires would no longer care for if he gained a stone.

“Don’t give me that look. I didn’t create your fascist Western ideal of beauty,” she defended herself. “Once he’s not famous and touring the world, he can easily enough avoid vampires on his own. Also, take out Sookie. I can’t babysit them both, and I doubt she wants to go on tour with a boyband she’s way too old to be into.”

“Hey!” Sookie was deeply offended. Barring her cousin Niall, it wasn’t like she was too old for any of his bandmates and she was certain if she wanted to she could attract at least one of them.  And their songs were transcendent of age, anyone could relate to the catchy love tunes. “You’re a vampire how many centuries old and dating one of them?”

“Yes, but I’m not into their music and Liam is a grown man who can make the adult decision if he wants to date a centenarian five times over. You’d be a fangirl or at the very least the weird cousin on tour for no reason. Distinction.”

“Ouch,” Niall commented, not exactly thrilled his brother’s girlfriend is so dismissive of their livelihood.

“How about we limit the contract to when another trusted vampire can erase their memories of the past three days?” Yara counteroffered the elder Niall, remembering Niall’s idea when they were in the graveyard. At the time she didn’t think it would work but given the current circumstances it was the more palatable option. Queen Catalina could fly to NOLA and wipe their memories, they could all act as if nothing ever happened.

“Glamour doesn’t work on me, might not work on Niall either,” Sookie interjected while the prince scoffed at the very idea of such a thing as a “trusted vampire.” She didn’t know much about fairy contracts but she was certain she didn’t want to go into one knowing if something wouldn’t work.

“Of course it doesn’t. Fine, in exchange for silence I will bodyguard Niall as a priority along with my duties towards One Direction as I’ve been doing. I’ll protect him from vampires and other such creatures to the **_best of my ability_** ,” she made sure to stress that clause. She didn’t need some magical smackdown because of situations outside her control or vast skill set. “I am free of responsibility or liability from human interference, his own or others.”

“What about Sookie? If she can’t have a bodyguard, what does she get?” Prince Niall stressed, he figured his granddaughter should get **something** for her troubles. He would prefer that she had a vampire guard who could walk in the day and was magically bound to not hurt her. But it was clear to him she had no intention of ever agreeing to living in Bon Temps and settling down for the next fifty odd years or so.

Yara was losing patience and rolled her eyes. Not sure what the big deal was as she healed them both.

“Ten thousand and tax free.”

“I nearly died,” her life was worth way more than that.

“But you didn’t and it was for like ten minutes, tough it out. Ten grand is more than you make in a year as a waitress in a shit town. I’d take it and be happy.”

Sookie had to be constrained by her cousin, he wasn’t sure how he was able to when she looked absolutely murderous and worse with her ethereal hand of deathly light.

“You guarding Niall isn’t any different than what you’ve been doing,” Sookie pointed out once she calmed down. “We should get compensated for the pain and suffering. Not to mention we’re doing something for you, not the other way around. Especially in my case. I could probably make much more money by telling Yakonomo Corp. there’s a vampire who can walk in the sun. How many vampires would pay anything to return to daylight?”

Although the thought of all vampires being able to walk into the sun was a terrifying idea in its own right, she knew it was the only way to get something out of the horrific event. She only hoped Yara wouldn’t call her bluff.

If Yara could rip the girl’s head off, she would have and this time she wouldn’t hesitate and make sure she got the job done. Sookie just played out her worst fears and she was right, there were plenty vampires rich enough to pay anything for the chance to walk in the sun. While she may never become human, that didn’t mean scientists couldn’t figure out a way for all vampires to walk in daylight with no consequences. She knew she would be a researcher’s wet dream.

 “ **Fine**. Thirty grand.”

“A year.”

“What?”

“I’d be silent for a very long time.”

“For how long?”

“Until I died…and I want a new car every three years.”

“What kind of car?”

“Camaro…convertible,” Sookie quickly thought of the first cool car she’s always wanted but never thought she’d ever be able to afford.

Yara was silent as she considered her proposal, it was actually pretty reasonable. She paid her human housekeeper double that plus health benefits and transportation. For magic bound silence and the situation, it was practical and it seemed well worth not having to hide the bodies.

“Fine. But no body guard option, me or paid mercenary or otherwise. You’re on your own vampire wise.”

“I was fine before I met you,” it wasn’t the entire truth but she had managed to survive since the Great Revelation and she was scrappy. She didn’t need a vampire bodyguard.

Prince Niall and Yara worked out more details until both sides were satisfied. Yara was bound to protect Niall and not hurt Sookie or any of the Brigant bloodline. They all were bound to silence, never to betray her secret of day walking. She personally thought the end product of each clause rewritten as clearly and neatly on the hotel paper looked cheap, but it would do in a pinch.

All four of them pricked their fingers and placed a bloody fingerprint on the document in lieu of signing their names, Yara still bound as none of the fairies trusted her to keep her word until magically bound to do so. Once all named signees had placed a drop of their blood onto the paper, the document started to glow; veins of light permeated throughout and the pages transformed into ancient looking parchment. The quick and sloppy penmanship was changed into elegant calligraphy, each clause gaining illuminated initials and the edges decorative marginalia.

Yara suddenly felt she made some horrid deal with the devil, the newly transformed contract looking like something right out of a Faustian novel. Given the new magically enforceable protections they all had, they finally pulled the silver chains from Yara, pieces of her skin sticking to the metal as if she were an ungreased piece of chicken on a bar-b-que. She wasn’t sure what hurt worse, the initial burn or having the silver pulled off and a couple layers of skin with it.

Blood years ran slowly down her face as she tried to control herself through the pain, her hands shaking and her breathing labored. Her body was slow to heal from the magic of the silver, she eyed the mini fridge wondering if a couple bottles of Pure Royalty would help things along.

She didn’t feel all that up heating the blood to a palatable heat and it didn’t help that she had three fairies in the room, all saying their goodbyes as awkwardly as possible.

“I don’t suppose anyone would be a willing donor to help heal these,” she brandished her arms. Niall flinched at the angry deep welted burns, only imagining all too well how much they must hurt.

Prince Niall looked offended that a vampire, particularly a vampire that had tried to kill them only hours ago, would even dare to ask. Sookie looked dumbfounded at Yara’s gall as well.

“I’ll give you a one-time extra five grand, cash,” she thought it was a fair price given she had fairy blood and it wouldn’t be **_that_** far off from ordering room service.

She directed the offer to Sookie as the she was her best viable option. The elder Niall was pure fairy, who knew if she would be able to help herself and stop, not wanting to break the contract mere minutes after signing it. Niall was her boyfriend’s best friend, at least one of them, and she didn’t think he’d take too kindly of her feeding from him; especially when she refused to feed from him and it was already a source of contention in their relationship.

“On hand?”

Yara nodded yes, Niall’s eyes going wide. What was she doing with all that money in cash?

Sookie was pissed, but she had grown up rather broke and now she was flushed with cash. She was basically set for the rest of her life as her expenses were rather low and that was the only reason she could survive off of a waitress’ salary. Now she had all her bills taken care of plus guarantee of a new car every three years. The upfront five-thousand would be a bonus where she would treat herself and Tara to a shopping spree. 

The prince didn’t look too pleased with how easily his granddaughter was swayed by money and was willing to play donor to a vampire. He disdainfully excused himself and escaped into the fae realm.

Yara bit into Sookie’s neck and realized why vampires were so attracted to fae blood, it was diluted fairy blood at that; she could barely imagine how much better the pure stuff would be. She didn’t want to think of how out of control she would be if she had full blooded fairy to snack on. She pulled the blood; warm, thick, and delicious right from the source and synthetic blood could never hope to duplicate. Vitality and light flooded her body, making her feel the giddy light headed feeling of a high. She imagined if happiness had a taste, it would be fairy blood. Her wounds had healed quickly as she wanted, but she found herself reluctant to stop drinking. It wasn’t until Sookie pulled away and asked for her cash did Yara stop.

Eyes dilated and a quick hungry look to Niall, she got ahold of herself and produced the requested money. The two cousins said their final goodbyes, and Sookie said she’d make her own way back to Bon Temps.

All that was left was Niall and Yara, both uncertain of how to proceed. Sunset was in less than half an hour, the boys would probably start to slowly trickle back to the hotel and get ready to go to the next city.

Niall knew he was safe from Yara, he could feel the magical pull of the contract just underneath his skin and binding them together for the next decade and some change.

He had so many questions of the future and not even his powers were able to answer any of them.

He was on his own to decide his fate.

“What do we do now?” He whispered rhetorically, knowing Yara didn’t know either. His whole world had turned upside down, the heavy weight of knowledge burdening his shoulders. The immediate danger was over, now all he had left were questions he suppressed early and had to deal with.  

How could he tell his closest friends he wasn’t entirely human? How could he tell Liam his girlfriend tried to kill him? Did he have to? He could barely stomach the thought of Liam’s sad eyes and causing that kind of pain for his friend. But he also couldn’t in good conscience omit the truth, what if Yara one day turned her back on Liam? From their interactions he could clearly see the two were in love, but he also thought with certainty she could never hurt him.

He realized that he truly didn’t know anything about Yara, and he knew he only saw a small portion of what she was capable of.   

She didn’t answer, only looked at him sadly while she cleaned her face of her crimson tears. She never wanted any of what happened to him, and she feared Liam’s reaction when he would find out she was a monster. Niall might be fighting with the decision on whether or not to tell him, but she wouldn’t keep such a thing from him. He deserved to know and he also deserved better than a killer.

She knew what she had to do, but it didn’t make telling him any easier.

Time ticked by and the sun started to set, both of them left with their demons.

They remained in silence until a jubilant Liam opened the door to her suite, he had been given a key to let himself in as soon as the sun went down.

“Hey Yara, I was thinking we could…” Liam started excitedly but his thought trailed off as he saw the somber mood of his girlfriend and the unexpected presence of Niall.

“Is everything alright?”

“Liam…we need to talk.”

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note – First off, first 1D fanfiction so please be gentle and if you can’t, please have a point and make some kind of sense. Secondly, I’m probably very obviously American. If a British person or someone very familiar with British culture wishes to share their wealth of knowledge then I am more than open for discussion and suggestions. 
> 
> Please read, enjoy, and review!
> 
> Thanx!
> 
> “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” E.L. Doctorow


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